The Festival of geniuses
by hummingbird98
Summary: The Festival of geniuses is a festival where geniuses from different worlds come together. This year Shikamaru Nara, Skulduggrey Pleasant and Artemis Fowl have all been invited. I'm guessing the organizer of the festival didn't think things through.
1. Chapter 1

Hello this is my first Fanfiction. Hope you enjoy :D.

**DISCLAMER: ****I do NOT own Artemis Fowl, Skulduggery Pleasant, ... and okay i don't own Naruto ether...**

**But I CAN DREAM (TT . TT)**

* * *

The Festival of geniuses

* * *

One day in Fowl manor, a letter arrived addressed to Artemis. Curious he opened and read the letter. The contents of that letter went a bit like this…

_Dear Mr. Artemis Fowl the ._

_You have been invited to attend The Festival of geniuses ._

_This festival is an annual advent where geniuses come together for one week at the address included. The festival will be held in three weeks from now. You will meet other geniuses from different worlds. As a genius we are sure you have heard of the theory where many different worlds exist side by side each other, without the said worlds noticing. Therefore the people you meet may be able to do things that are impossible where you come from but completely normal in their world. We hope you will be able to attend. You are allowed to bring one other person that has not been invited. _

_Yours faithfully _

_C. T._

"Butler." Artemis called.

"Yes, Artemis"

"Please make arrangements to visit a place called Hummingbird house."

"Of course Artemis"

* * *

On the same day. A girl got into a 1954 Bentley R-Type Continental, one of only 208 ever made, a car that house a six-cylinder, 4.5-litre engine, and was retro-fitted with central locking, climate control, satellite navigation and a host of other modern conveniences. Or to most people 'A Bentley'.

"What do you have there?" Valkyrie asked Skulduggery.

"A letter." He replied simply.

"I know that."

"Then why did you ask?"

"I was referring to what the letter said."

"Then you should of asked what did the letter say. Instead of asking what a letter was."

"Most people would have known what I was asking."

"I am not most people."

Valkyrie glared at Skulduggery.

"So…"

"It's a letter inviting me to a 'Festival of geniuses'."

"Why would someone invite you to that?"

"Other then my obvious talent, charm and genius, why don't you ask them?"

"I can come?"

"Yes I am allowed to bring one other person"

" Great."

* * *

In Konoha, on a hill which has a great view of the sky. Our favourite lazy ninja was enjoying his favourite pastime.

'Odd' he thought.

'Usually Ino comes along and disturbs the peace right about now.'

Shikamaru was almost right about this. Indeed a young, blonde, blue eyed, loud ninja did come running up the hill shouting his name. However it was Naruto instead of Ino.

Shikamaru felt oddly disappointed about this, but scolded him self.

'Its just Ino I'll see her later.' He turned to the current blonde menaced.

"What do you want Naruto?"

"Lady Tsunade wants to see you right away"

'Troublesome. I wonder if this has anything to do with that letter I got.'

"Alright, alright, Naruto I'll come. What a drag."

"Great, see you later" and with that Naruto rushed off.

"Man how troublesome."

At the Hokage's tower…

"Shikamaru we received a letter inviting you to go to this festival." Said Lady Tsunade.

"Yeah I know I'm not going"

"You WILL be going if I have a say in it" Tsunade glared.

"Why? Going would be too troublesome" Shikamaru groaned.

"Because the people at the festival might want our services and that will mean more money for Konoha"

'Money to pay off her gambling debt more like' Shikamaru thought spitefully

"You will be going with Ino" Tsunade stated

"WHAT! Why Ino?"

" Is that a problem Shika-kun?" Ino asked while coming in the door looking rather hurt.

" Man, how much more troublesome can this trip be?"

* * *

Yay the first chapter of my first Fanfiction is finally done. I realized that I forgot Shikamaru, But much to his horror I have fixed that. :D. Please R&R


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two

_With Valkyrie and Skulduggery._

When Valkyrie and Skulduggery reached the place called Hummingbird manor, Valkyrie's first impression was "Wow."

It was a beautiful stone country house, which really could only be beaten by the grounds

surrounding it. Fresh green hills were every where covered in beautiful flowers.

"Valkyrie your impression of a goldfish is quite impressive, but if your done shall we head inside?"

"What! I did not look like a goldfish."

_With Artemis and Butler_

"How much more time are they expecting us to wait for." Complained Artemis.

"I'm beginning to think this is all just a waste of my time."

"Hm." Replied Butler.

They had been told to wait in room number 45. The festival would begin when four more people of the names:

Skulduggery Pleasant

Valkyrie Cain

Shikamaru Nara and

Ino Yamanaka

"I mean what kind of names are these?" Artemis questioned.

'Indeed those are strange names 'Shikamaru' means deer and 'Ino' means pig in Japanese. As for Skulduggery I have no idea and Valkyries were mythical daemons that lead the way for spirits of the dead.

Butler was snapped out of his thoughts when two people walked in. What seemed to be a … male and a female. The two were in a heated argument.

_With Shikamaru and Ino_

"Shikamaru if you weren't so dam lazy we wouldn't be late."

"Shut up Ino you troublesome person, we're here aren't we?"

"THAT'S NOT THE POINT"

"Pardon me, but judging from your conversation you must be Mr. Nara and Ms Yamanaka." said a boy who looked as pale as a vampire, and just as scary.

"Yes" grunted Shikamaru

"And who might you be?"

"I am Artemis Fowl the second and this is my butler and bodyguard Butler."

Ino started giggling

"May I ask what's so funny Ms Yamanaka?" Artemis questioned

"Your butler's name is Butler." Ino gasped, in-between giggles.

"Yes, but me and Butler don't laugh at your name even though it means…"

" Sorry we're late we got lost on the road of life"


	3. Chapter 3

yay i finished reading the new Skulduggery Pleasant book. It's amazing.

Please R&R

* * *

Chapter 3

_With Shikamaru and Ino_

A tall man wearing a beautifully tailored suit and a girl about the same age as Shikamaru and Ino,

wearing black clothes in some strange material walked in.

"Sorry we're late, we got lost on the road of life." Said the man in a smooth voice.

" Is it just me or does that excuse sound familiar?" snorted Ino.

Shikamaru smiled.

'To be honest I was just glad that Artemis boy didn't call Ino a pig. THAT would not have been pretty.' he shivered at the thought.

" You two must be Mr. Pleasant and Ms. Cain." Artemis said coolly.

" Please just call me Skulduggery Pleasant, detective extraordinaire" stated Skulduggery.

" You do not deserve to be called any thing extraordinaire" snapped Valkyrie.

" So cruel"

Mr. Skulduggery did look odd. He had a huge hat on that covered pretty much all of his head apart from his wild frizzy hair that stuck out underneath. His eyes were cover by sunglasses, the rest of his face and neck were covered by a scarf. He had gloves on so you couldn't see his hands. It didn't look like if he had any skin at all.

For his female companion, she was dressed in normal clothes made of that black, strange material. But other than that she looked quite normal, if not a bit pretty. Thought Shikamaru to himself.

* * *

_With Skulduggery and Valkyrie_

Valkyrie cursed Skulduggery.

"Great, now everyone here thinks I'm a slacker who's late to everything." muttered Valkyrie

" Don't be so negative, I'm sure they don't think you lazy" answered Skulduggery.

" Really? So what do you think they think of me then?" Valkyrie replied suspiciously.

Knowing Skulduggery he was going to say something that instead of cheering her up,it would make her want even more to punch his face.

" They probably think that you're a cold-hearted, cruel girl, who likes muttering to herself."

Trying to resisted punching Skulduggery in the face, Valkyrie looked around the room.

The first pair she saw was Artemis and Butler. She decided she didn't like either one.

As one looked like they belonged in Twilight and the other in Frankenstein. She wasn't too worried about the boy; she was more worried about the man Butler. If a fight broke out, then she wouldn't like to be the one facing him. But then again the only way they could be here is if one of them was a genus. Suddenly the boy looked quite scary.

Then she spotted Ino and Shikamaru. They looked like average 13 year olds apart from the good looks the obviously had. The boy looked for lack of a better word like a slacker.

She decided that the girl must be the brains in the group because that boy looked like he was only capable of sleeping and eating. Nether of them looked to dangerous but something was telling her not to upset them, unless she wanted extreme pain to befall her.

* * *

_With Artemis and Butler_

Butler looked at the skinny man in a suit. Skulduggery looked back at the gorilla wearing a suit. Butler didn't like detective Skulduggery. His instincts told him that something was

wrong about Skulduggery. Maybe it was because he couldn't see any part of him, or maybe it was because of his companion. Either way he wasn't letting both of them go near Artemis.

He looked at the girl who had laughed at his name. He noticed Artemis kept looking at her and glaring at her friend. It was nice that for once Artemis was acting like a normal 13-year-old boy. However the boy Shikamaru noticed that Artemis was looking at his friend and glared back.

Butler sighed.

He got a feeling that even though they were just the same age as Artemis, he really didn't want to pick a fight with them two.

" Oh good everyone has finally arrived"


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

* * *

_With Artemis and Butler_

A small, mousy looking girl stepped in through the door. She was wearing a green dress that looked a bit like a maid's dress.

"Oh good everyone has finally arrived." She said in a voice that was just as timid as she looked. __

'Pitiful' thought Artemis to himself.

"Who are you?" snapped Artemis in a cold and harsh voice.

The maid jumped.

"Are y..y..you t..talking to m..me?" stuttered the maid.

Artemis smiled a smile that would have creeped Dracula out.

" Well obviously. You are the last person to come through this door, and you just said that finally everyone was here so that implies that you were not invited. I would say that you are merely a maid working for the household. So asking who you are is just a pleasantry."

Everyone (excluding Butler, who was used to this kind of thing) stared at him.

The poor maid stared at him speechless and looked like she was going to faint.

"Would you mind telling the organizer of this event that he better show up quick? As I feel as though my time is being wasted, And nothing good ever happens when I feel my time is being wasted."

No one said anything. Finally the silence was broken by the maid.

"I..I'm n..n..not a maid." She stuttered.

"Hm. Well you do seem quite stupid. If you were working for me I would have fired you long ago. Scratch that I wouldn't have hired you in the first place."

Something seemed to snap in the maids posture.

" No! I mean I am NOT a maid. I am the DAUGHTER of the master of this household, and sure as HELL I'm AM NOT STUPID. She shouted.

Everyone ( This time including Butler and Artemis) stared at her.

She blinked a few times.

"I am sorry. I shouldn't have shouted at t..the g..guests." she whispered "Please don't tell my father."

* * *

With Skulduggery and Valkyrie

Valkyrie was shocked. How could this boy be so nasty to someone who just merely walked in the door and asked quite a normal question? She knew she didn't like the look of the vampire boy.

Valkyrie was even more shocked by the sudden change of personality of the maid… I mean daughter of the household.

"Don't mind him" said the girl with blond hair named Ino.

"He's just mean. After all no one else thinks your stupid. What's your name?" she said sweetly.

"M..melody" she whispered

"You remind me of my friend Hinata" Ino laughed

Valkyrie smiled.

"Melody is a lovely name." Valkyrie said and Ino nodded

"Really my father said it is a idiotic name." Melody replied.

"Well he's wrong" Ino said defiantly.

* * *

With Shikamaru and Ino

"I don't mean to be rude but Melody is there a reason why you are here?" Shikamaru politely asked.

"Yes stop wasting everyone's time and spit it out" Snapped an annoyed Artemis.

" SHUT UP YOU" shouted Ino. " If it wasn't for you being a rude, irritating boy then we would already know what we are supposed to do here."

Artemis stared. No one talked to him like that.

He glared at Butler with a look that clearly said 'Make her sorry she opened her mouth'.

However Butler did nothing.

"Not now" Butler muttered.

" Ino be quite." Groaned Shikamaru.

Much to Shikamaru's horror this didn't work. Instead it did the opposite.

"NO I WILL NOT BE QUITE LAZY ASS! I'M GOING TO MAKE HIM SORRY"

And Ino charged towards Artemis!

* * *

Yay Chapter 4 is finished. I gave Artemis quite a big part in this Chapter as in the other chapters i focused more on

the other characters. Anyway Please Review!


	5. Chapter 5

thank you so much for reading this story.

Its really cool to think that people in different countries are reading it. Hope you enjoy Ch 5.

* * *

Chapter 5

With Artemis and Butler

Several things happened after Ino charged towards Artemis like… well like a boar,

Butler jumped in front of Artemis and activated something like an invisible shield. Well more like a thin wall rotating faster then the human eye can make out. Not enough to stop a bullet, but enough to stop a 13 year old girl. (It was designed by Artemis but based on LEP technology.) Shikamaru made a sign with his hands and shouted "Shadow possession no Jutsu" and something black shot across towards Ino. Skulduggery and Valkyrie, sensing a fight clicked their fingers and their hands were suddenly in Flame.

It took everyone a few seconds to notice that Ino wasn't moving anymore. In fact she seemed to be mimicking Shikamaru. Ino was screaming at Shikamaru

"SHIKAMARU! LET GO OF ME THIS INSTANCE"

Artemis looked at Shikamaru. He was on the other side of the room, nowhere near Ino. How could he be holding on to her? Then Artemis noticed something jet black connecting Shikamaru to Ino. 'What on earth is that' thought Artemis.

" Ino don't go picking fights with people. Especially when you don't know what they can do." Drawled Shikamaru.

"If you kept on going you would have smacked righted into that wall"

"Wait you can see the wall!" Artemis exclaimed

"What wall?" asked Valkyrie

" T..thats not possible, the wall is faster then the human eye can follow" stuttered Artemis. 'Great now I'm sounding like that stupid girl Melody' he thought to himself.

* * *

With Shikamaru and Ino

'Well at least they're not ninja but still they can fight.' Shikamaru noticed.

'Mr. Pleasant and Ms Cain look like they have the fire element'

"Tell me how can you see the wall?" Artemis demanded.

"Well you don't exactly need the Sharingan" stated Ino

"AND SHIKAMARU RELEASE THIS JUTSU THIS INSTANCE"

"Okay, just don't attack that Artemis boy."

Shikamaru released the Jutsu.

"Okay back up, What wall and what is a Sharingan?" Asked a confused looking Valkyrie.

' defiantly not a ninja' Shikamaru thought to himself.

'Most people, no mater if they're ninja of the leaf or not had heard of the Sharingan'

" Oh just something where we are from" stated Shikamaru in a monotone.

* * *

With Skulduggery and Valkyrie

'That still doesn't really answer my question' thought Valkyrie.

"Em, Well if e..e..everyone is fin..finshed, would you like me to t..tell you what you are d..doing here." Interrupted Melody

Everyone stopped, and looked up at Melody.

"Yes everyone should stop wasting time, and listen to what Melody has to say." Said Skulduggery as he extinguished his hand.

"Stop acting so high and mighty Skulduggery, you were wasting time like everyone else" snipped Valkyrie.

"There you go again Valkyrie. I'm really sorry Melody, I thought Valkyrie knew better"

"Hey!"

" It's okay. Well the Festival of Geniuses is" Melody started.

"Genii" Artemis interrupted

"The plural of genius is genii not geniuses" continued Artemis

"S . . sorry I d . . didn't know. W . .Well the festival is about many different geniuses… I . .I mean genii working to . . .together. S . . so during the week you and your friends will be p . .paired up with another person in the room and do actives during the day with them. For example o..on Monday Shikamaru might be p..paired with Skulduggery and Ino with Artemis but on Tuesday Valkyrie might be paired with Shikamaru and Ino with Butler. Something like that."

"Okay, so each day we are paired with someone else, will we ever be paired up with our friend?" enquired Valkyrie.

"Yes, sometimes you will be. But most of the time it will b… be with another person" answered Melody.

"The Festival will begin tomorrow. H… however before you go to bed you must do one thing."

"What's that" grumbled Butler.

"Y… you m… must tell the other people i...in the room about your secret."

Everyone stared at her.

"Do not worry, After all in your own world none of these people actually exist, and the only way to and from other worlds is my family secret. So it's not a big deal."

No one said anything, they just stared.

"I ...If you don't I will be forced to announce it" stuttered Melody

"Ha. You're bluffing" Laughed Artemis.

"I'm not. I know all about the LEP and Captain Short." Replied Melody.

Artemis went even paler, which Valkyrie didn't even think was possible.

" I don't think she is bluffing" muttered Valkyrie to Skulduggery.

He nodded.

" Well if that's the case" and he took off his hat.


	6. Chapter 6

Sorry for the delay in the upload. Teachers give WAY too much homework. Hope you enjoy and please review.

* * *

Chapter 6

* * *

With Skulduggery and Valkyrie

Valkyrie heard a high pitched, girly scream. She looked over at Ino who seemed to be staring in horror at Skulduggery, while making an extremely high pitched sound. It was quite impressive actually. She then looked to her right to see Shikamaru wearing a surprised look on his face.

'At least he has another emotion other than half awake' thought Valkyrie to herself.

She then looked at the human-gorilla Butler. He looked very on edge, almost as if a hairpin dropped, he would start attacking Skulduggery.

Then she set her eyes on Artemis. The boy however didn't seem to be scared of Skulduggery. He just looked curious.

"You're a skeleton" stated Artemis.

"Indeed I am. How observant of you" replied Skulduggery.

"Fascinating. How do you no just fall apart if you have no ligaments holding your bones together? How are you able to move about with no muscles? How can you talk you have no tongue or any vocal cords? Do you need to eat, breathe, and go to the bathroom? How did it happen? Did it hurt?

Skulduggery looked taken aback with the amount of questions. He was used to giving answers to them of course. After all most people are quite curious to how is it possible, and the most common one 'Did it hurt'. However it would take on average 2 minutes before people could find their voices again and another 2 or 3 before they could say anything recognizable as English. But Artemis just fired out questions. Valkyrie did even know if he took any breaths between the questions.

"Magic" Skulduggery simply said.

"In our world, there are special people who are able to do things like control the elements, teleport, walk on vertical surfaces and lots of other amazing things" explained

Valkyrie.

"Like ninjutsu?" Asked Shikamaru, who seemed to have regained his voice.

" I guess so. Though I don't know what ninjutsu is. In our world we call it magic and people who are able to do magic are called sorcerers."

"I see."

* * *

With Shikamaru and Ino

"And that's pretty much our ' tell someone and you die' secret. So who's next?" asked Skulduggery.

Melody nodded and looked at the list in her hand.

" Yes t . . that's okay. N . . n .. next up is Shikamaru and Ino"

Shikamaru looked at Ino, who was still staring in horror and awe at Skulduggery.

'Sigh. What did I do to get stuck with Ino?' Shikamaru thought to himself for the 351st time today.

'Probably Tsunade did it to get revenge on me for slacking off in my last mission.' Shikamaru answered his own question.

" How troublesome. Well Ino and myself are ninja from the Village hidden in the leaves or as it's more commonly know as the leaf village. We go on missions for civilians in return for money. We also can something like you described Miss Cain, however we call it ninjutsu or Jutsu for short." explained Shikamaru.

"Please just call me Valkyrie. Miss Cain is too formal." Muttered Valkyrie

"I agree. It makes you sound lady like." Quipped Skulduggery

"I can be very lady like if I have to"

"I would like to see that"

"hmpf. Well anyway. Shikamaru would you be so kind to tell us what sort of missions do you go on?

"Oh what your going to try and prove that you're lady like now."

" I have no idea what you are talking about Skulduggery. However you should note that it is impolite to interrupt someone. Please say what you were going to say Shikamaru."

"Em okay. Well the missions are rated from D to A. D being the lowest is for new ninja fresh out of the ninja academy. So they do things such as cleaning the river and bring back stray pets. A would be the highest not counting S ranked missions. A missions would be things like assignation. Those would be for the most skilled ninja in our village." Answered Shikamaru.

"How fascinating." Replied Valkyrie.

"How long are you going to keep this up." Groaned Skulduggery

"I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. Skulduggery."

* * *

With Artemis and Butler

A some time during Shikamaru's story, Ino must have snapped out of her trance and so said "Okay now it's your turn Vampire Boy"

Artemis blinked at the name.

"Vampire Boy? You do know that vampires don't exist right?"

"They do. Trust me." Valkyrie said with a shiver.

'That's interesting we all appear to know about vampires. However in Skullduggery's

And Valkyrie's world they seem to be real.' Artemis made note.

" Well seeing as I have no choice in the matter I will tell you about 'The People.' After a year of studying folklore and fairytales, I managed to discover the existence of fairies. I discovered that they have their own culture and their own bible. After getting my hands on their bible I was able to translate 'Gnommish' the fairies language into English.

I discovered that 'the people's' police is known as the Lower Elements Police recon or LEPrecon for short. Although they have magic they are extremely advanced in technology." Artemis said in a monotone.

" Fairies? You do know that they don't exist right?" snorted Ino

" Well Miss Ino. If you had being pay attention to the other stories, you might have noticed that what seems to be just myth in another world seems to be real in another. For instance ninja do not exists in our world, But they do in yours. It must be the same for fairies and Vampires. Replied Artemis coolly.

" Y .. y .. you're correct Artemis. Some things that are real in some worlds are told in others as myths and legends." Explained Melody.

Melody handed everyone a piece of paper with instructions on how to get to their own room.

"now that that's all done and d.. d… dusted. I've got the list of rooms so you can retire for the night. Your rooms should all have on suites. I hope you all have a pleasant night's sleep and I will see you in the m. .m.. morning."

* * *

Just out of curiosity. What are you fans of Naruto,Skulduggery or Artemis? please review with your answer :D.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7 is here! Thanks so much to Namna-dono who is helping me with the editing. (I need all the help I can get :D) Please R&R.

So here is Chapter 7

* * *

**Chapter 7**

* * *

With Ino

Ino woke up at seven o'clock. She yawned and stretched her arms out wide.

'That was a great night's sleep' she thought to herself.  
'If only all the missions I went were this luxurious'

The room was huge. Big enough to fit a king sized bed, a sofa, TV, three bookshelves, a refrigerator and still have room left over to be able to practice taijutsu without having to worry about bumping into anything.

'I wonder if the lazy bum is up yet' pondered Ino.

Shikamaru's room was in the corridor just before where the girls were staying, with the other male's rooms. Ino's room was in between Melody's and Valkyrie's rooms. She would've thought that Melody's room would have been on the same corridor as the main family's, not in the guest section of the house.

"Maybe she just wanted her room to get away from the rest of the house." Ino said out loud and thought no further of it.

Ino thought about the other girl Valkyrie. 'She seemed nice enough, but how she finds it normal to talk to a skeleton in a suit, I will never know. Maybe I should try to become friends with her. After all Melody, Valkyrie and myself are the only girls here. I should try to be nice.'

With those thoughts in mind, Ino went to annoy the hell - I mean - wake up Shikamaru.

-*-*-* With Ino 

Valkyrie woke up to the sound of beautiful singing birds.

"Stupid birds, I was hoping to get another hour or two of sleep in" grumbled Valkyrie. She yawned and decided to get up. 'I probably wouldn't be able to get back to sleep anyway' she reasoned.

Then an idea came to her. She decided to wake up Skulduggery, to get revenge for calling her unladylike.

"Also it's very ladylike to wake up early in the morning. So that will show him." She said to the empty room. And with that she headed out of her massive bedroom.

She saw that Ino was also up and looked like if she was going wake up her friend Shikamaru.

"Good morning Ino."

Ino turned around. "Oh hello Valkyrie, did you sleep well?"

"Okay I guess. The birds woke me up. I would have preferred to have a few more hours of sleep but there's no point crying over spilled milk."

"That sucks. Hey do you want to help me wake up the lazy git?"

"Sure, if you help me do the same with Skulduggery."

"No problem. Do you have any plans to wake them up in the most annoying way possible?"

"Eh, I haven't really thought about it. How about yourself? You must have one being a genius and all that."

Ino started laughing.

"What's so funny?" asked Valkyrie confused.

"It's just that Shikamaru was the person invited to come, not me." Ino explained.

"Really it's just that he looks so…" she trailed off, trying to think how not to insult Ino's friend while describing him. Not that she had anything against him but honestly, he looked like a slob.

"Like a lazy, carefree, pain-in-the-a**, slob. Then you would be correct but he is the leaf village top strategist and if it weren't for him I would have been killed long ago." Ino laughed. "However, no matter how many times he saves my life, I will always be there to annoy him and to make sure that he doesn't slack off too much."

"You sound like you're very close" said Valkyrie

"Yeah we have known each other since we were babies. Our fathers are best friends so Shikamaru, our friend Choji and I, spent almost everyday playing with each other. Then when we were split into our teams after leaving the ninja academy, we were put into team ten with Asuma."

"That's cool that you were put into the same team as your friends."

"Well actually I wasn't very happy at first. You see this really cute boy named Sasuke was being put into a team as well, and I wanted to be on his team. Instead my rival Sakura was paired with him. So I was pretty mad about that. But in the end I realised that  
Choji and Shikamaru aren't that bad." Ino smirked

"So how did you meet the skeleton?" She asked

"Well the first time I saw him was at my uncle's funeral, however I didn't know he was a skeleton back then. I found that out when he saved me from this guy trying to get into my late uncle's house."

"That must have given you an awful fright."

"Yeah it did. After all he came into my house 1. as a skeleton. 2. his hand on fire and 3. he broke down the door, it was a nice door as well. You know as doors go."

Ino snorted which set off Valkyrie. Soon both girls were laughing their heads off.

*-*-* With Artemis

Artemis was sitting on the sofa, enjoying one of his favourite books he had brought along for the trip, when he was interrupted by the sound of high-pitched giggles.

'Drat, what's the point in getting up early for some peace and quite. When those annoying girls are making enough noise to wake the dead?' he thought.

'I've half the mind to go and wake up Butler to shut them up.'

Then Artemis remembered what happens when you wake Butler up early without a good cause. Artemis shuddered.

'I feel sorry for that salesman, I should probably tell those girls to quieten down before they wake up Butler.'

When he opened the door, he found that Valkyrie and Ino were trying their best to stop laughing and start breathing.

"You better stop that annoying giggling, unless you want to wake up Butler. He does not like being woken up this early in the morning" warned Artemis.

The girls stopped laughing and looked at him.

"Good morning to you to, Artemis" sneered Ino.

"What are you doing up so early?" asked Valkyrie.

"I could ask you the same question" Artemis replied coolly.

"Why should we tell you?" asked Ino.

"Hm. Not going to tell me huh? Well try to keep your friends from shouting when you wake them up. You really do not want to see Butler when he is woken up early."

Artemis shivered.

"You're frightened of Butler" stated Ino.

"No. I'm not scared of Butler because he is my ally. However if he was my foe…" Artemis seemed to stare off into the distance pondering something.

"Whatever. I guess we'll see you later" said Valkyrie.

Artemis nodded and headed back into his bedroom. Inside he could hear the muffled voices of Valkyrie and

Ino.

"Weird guy."

"Yeah I know and that's saying something. I know lots of weird people."

"I bet I know more."

"Really, okay then shoot."

"Well I know this guy called Rock Lee for starters he has REALLY big eyebrows…"

'Hm. I wonder how big they really are. She is probably just exaggerating' thought Artemis to himself as he picked up his book and started reading again.

* * *

Thanks for reading and thank you to Toadymoomoo and Lidh for reviewing. :D

Again out of curiosity. If you could be a character in ether Skulduggery P, Artemis F or Naruto, who would you be?


	8. Chapter 8

Thanks so much for reading, here is Chapter 8!

* * *

Chapter 8

With Shikamaru

Shikamaru was having a lovely time watching the clouds. Yes he could make out all kinds of white, fluffy clouds, all different shapes and sizes. One cloud looked like a *shogi check-mate problem. Shikamaru was thinking what would be easier to drop the **gold and sacrifice the knight or capture the silver with his lance, when something wet and cold hit him in the face.

"Pff-ack. What the hell?" He spluttered.

It took Shikamaru a moment to realize that he was in a bedroom Humming bird manor and he was dreaming about clouds… again. He then realized that the cold, wet thing was a sopping face cloth.

"INO!"

'_I wonder if Ino has something against me watching clouds, even when I'm dreaming she always finds someway of ruining my relaxation. Maybe she's jealous_' thought Shikamaru.

He laughed at that.

'_I guess I might as well get up now. Such a drag, I'll get my revenge on Ino later._'

And with that Shikamaru started planning.

* * *

With Ino and Valkyrie

"Pff-ack. What the hell?" They heard Shikamaru splutter.

"INO!" They heard him shout.

"Yes, it hit him. We should probably move, even though he is sluggish when he just wakes up…" said Ino.

"Noted, so what are we going to do now?" Asked Valkyrie.

"Well what about your friend Skulduggery?"

"I want to show him that I am lady-like , so I don't think that throwing a wet face cloth on his face would be a good idea."

"Fair point, any other ideas?"

"To be fair I'm not even sure if he sleeps."

"What! You're kidding me right."

"He said that he goes into a trance or something but he doesn't need to so…"

"Why does he do then?"

"He says that it is relaxing, so relaxing that apparently he didn't notice goblins stealing his head."

" And that didn't wake him up! I think we might need something more than a face cloth."

"How about the sound of two twelve-year-old girls up to no good?" A smooth voice said from behind them.

'_Busted_.' Thought Valkyrie and Ino.

* * *

With Skulduggery

Skulduggery looked at the two girls. The two girls looked at Skulduggery.

"You know we were joking about trying to wake you up right" said Valkyrie.

"Sure… and Mr. Bliss's favourite pastime is dressing up in a pink, frilly dress and singing songs from mamma mia" replied Skulduggery

"… I think I'm scarred for life"

"That was the plan. So now that you have woken up Shikamaru and myself, what do you plan to do now?"

"I guess we could see if Melody is up yet." Said Ino

"Yes I am getting rather hungry and Melody unfortunately forgot to tell us where breakfast is being held" agreed Valkyrie.

"You're not still miffed about the unladylike like comment" groaned Skulduggery.

'_She is far too stubborn for her own good. I don't know why Ghastly looks at me funny when I tell him that_' pondered Skulduggery.

With Ino and Valkyrie

Valkyrie and Ino were outside Melody's room. Valkyrie was just about to knock when Ino stopped her.

"Listen, Can you hear someone crying?" Ino asked.

'_Now that she mentions it, it does sound like someone is sobbing_' thought Valkyrie.

Valkyrie knocked on the door.

"Melody are you in there? It's me and Ino, we're coming in" called Valkyrie.

She was just about to twist the door knob, when Melody opened the door.

"Are you okay? We heard crying so we came to check on you." Ino explained.

Melody's eyes were red and swollen; it was obvious that she had been crying.

"Oh yes I'm o…okay, I j…j…just had a bad dream. T…that's all no need to worry" she answered.

"Are you sure? You know you can…" Valkyrie started to say.

"Oh my, I f…forgot to tell you guys where b…breakfast is being held." Melody interrupted.

"It's nearly the same route to get to the bedrooms but instead of going straight at the vase of flowers, you take a left and it is the second right on the corridor. I b…better tell the others"

And she hurried down the corridor.

"Hey wait!" Valkyrie called after her.

"Leave her, if she doesn't want to talk it's her choice" said Ino.

*_Some time later_*

With Butler

After quite a lovely breakfast, Butler looked up at the girl Melody who made a noise indicating that she wanted everyone to listen to her.

"Em, well I hope that everyone had a good night sleep. I have the names of the pairs for today." she said.

Butler stiffened; he didn't like the idea that Artemis could be paired with the Skeleton. In fact he didn't like the idea of being separated from Artemis full stop. However Artemis made it clear that they should go along with it, so there wasn't a lot Butler could do.

"The pairs for today are: Butler and Skulduggery Pleasant"

'_Well at least Artemis will be away from the Skeleton_' thought Butler.

"Valkyrie Cain and Ino Yamanaka."

"Yes!" both girls exclaimed at the same time.

"That just leaves you and me" said Shikamaru to Artemis. "Indeed" agreed Artemis.

* * *

***Shogi:**_ Japanese chess _

**_**Gold, knight, silver, lance: _**_Shogi game pieces  
_


	9. Chapter 9

Hey guys sorry if the Chapter updates are different each time. My internet has gone kind of funny so it might take a week or two (or three) before I post the next chapter. Also I have lost contact with my beta so if you see any mistakes they are my fault completely. So anyway here's Chapter 9 hope you enjoy.

* * *

Chapter 9

With Artemis and Shikamaru

"If you w…would like t…to follow me, I'll bring you to the first challenge" announced Melody.

"What is the first challenge?" asked Artemis.

"It will be pretty obvious when we get there" replied Melody.

"If that's the case then why can't you tell us now" snapped Artemis.

"M…my father said n…not to say anything u…until we get there."

"Speaking of your father, seeing how he has organized this shouldn't he have spoken to us already?"

Melody clenched her fists.

"I'm sure that my father will speak to you at dinner or breakfast tomorrow at the latest."

She said in a tone more cold than usual.

"Are you okay Melody?" asked Shikamaru.

"I'm fine thank you for asking. Oh we're here already!" She replied in her normal, warm tone of voice.

'Is it just my imagination or does Melody seem upset when her father is mentioned?' Pondered Shikamaru

"Please step right this way" Melody said as she opened a door which had stairs leading downwards into the basement."

With Ino and Valkyrie

"How long do these flipping steps go on for?" Ino said to no one in particular.

They had already been walking down the stairs for five minutes with no end in sight.

"A…another two-hundred and t…thirty seven s…steps" Melody replied

Groans came from the group.

"So, what do you think the challenge is going to be?" asked Valkyrie

"I don't know, it's something to do with a basement so… I don't know maybe there's different antiquities and we have to decide what they are, when they were made and by whom." suggested Ino

Shikamaru snorted.

"What's so funny?" glared Ino

"Don't worry they wouldn't give you something so difficult Ino." Shikamaru replied lazily.

"WHAT DO MEAN BY THAT!"

"I thought it was perfectly obvious, but I doubt it won't be anything like that."

"HOW THE HELL WOULD YOU KNOW?!"

"Stop shouting Ino you troublesome woman, I'll tell you. Seeing as one group doesn't have any of the invited genii in it, the challenge will be something that doesn't just require brain power."

"You are correct Shikamaru, although at first it may s…seem that you w…would have an advantage, w…w…when doing the c…challenge you will f…find the opposite is t…true."

"Speaking of which, what is it?" asked Shikamaru

"Idiot, she said she would tell us when we get there weren't you listing" said Ino huffily because Shikamaru was right. (A/N You would think that Ino would be used to that by now.)

"Yes I was listing, so I also know she said we would arrive in two-hundred and thirty-seven steps and if I'm correct we are on the Two hundred and thirty-fourth step." He replied coolly.

"WHAT! We're no where near the bottom yet, look the stairs go on"

"No Shikamaru is right there is a corridor just to the right that will bring us into the room we need." Melody explained

"Okay so let's head in and see what the mystery challenge is." Skulduggery said.

"humf." Butler grunted in agreement.

With Skulduggery and Butler

When Melody opened the door, everyone stared inside. The room was bright and airy despite being meters underground. One side of the room was a huge floor-to-ceiling window overlooking a gigantic labyrinth, so large that you couldn't see the end of it.

To the other side of the room there was three lifts.

"W…well you've probably g…guessed what the c…challenge is now, b…but I'll explain anyway. Each group will take a lift down to the labyrinth, each lift opens in a different part and you have to try to be the first group back here. Somewhere in the maze there is the end of the staircase. To make it more interesting the last group back has to clean up after dinner." Explained Melody.

'hm, interesting she seems to forget about her stutter when she explains things. Even more interesting I wonder who will win.' Thought Skulduggery.

"When will the challenge begin?" asked Butler.

Everyone (apart from Artemis) stared at him.

"Problem?" He asked.

Everyone one looked away embarrassed.

"It's just the first time the have heard you speak. They probably thought you couldn't." Artemis said to him.

"hmf"

"T…the challenge will begin when e…everyone gets into a lift." Said Melody.

"We'll take the left one." Said Ino and Artemis in unison.

"I'm sorry I think you must be mistaken but my team will take the left lift." Artemis glared

"What makes you think that, my team obviously is getting the lift." Said Ino in a high-pitched voice that meant if-you-do-not-give-up-I-will-cause-you-severe-pain.

Queue the death glare staring match.

"A…actually the lifts are a…already picked out." Melody stuttered.

"SO WHICH GROUP GETS THE LEFT LIFT!?" shouted Artemis and Ino together.

With Ino and Valkyrie

As the girls got into the right lift Ino started whining.

"I can't believe we didn't get the lift. It's so unfair."

"It's just a lift it doesn't make that much of a difference." Valkyrie sweat-dropped.

With Shikamaru and Artemis

"How irritating, we didn't get the left one. Your friend is very annoying." complained

"Trust me I know. What's the big deal with the left lift?"

"Nothing really I just like the alliteration of saying left lift."

With Skulduggery and Butler

"I wonder why those two were fighting over this lift, there doesn't seem to be anything special about it." Pondered Skulduggery out loud

"hm" came the reply

**Chapter 9**

With Artemis and Shikamaru

"If you w…would like t…to follow me, I'll bring you to the first challenge" announced Melody.

"What is the first challenge?" asked Artemis.

"It will be pretty obvious when we get there" replied Melody.

"If that's the case then why can't you tell us now" snapped Artemis.

"M…my father said n…not to say anything u…until we get there."

"Speaking of your father, seeing how he has organized this shouldn't he have spoken to us already?"

Melody clenched her fists.

"I'm sure that my father will speak to you at dinner or breakfast tomorrow at the latest."

She said in a tone more cold then usual.

"Are you okay Melody?" asked Shikamaru.

"I'm fine thank you for asking. Oh we're here already!" She replied in her normal, warm tone of voice.

'Is it just my imagination or does Melody seem upset when her father is mentioned?' Pondered Shikamaru

"Please step right this way" Melody said as she opened a door which had stairs leading downwards into the basement."

With Ino and Valkyrie

"How long do these flipping steps go on for?" Ino said to no one in particular.

They had already been walking down the stairs for five minutes with no end in sight.

"A…another two-hundred and t…thirty seven s…steps" Melody replied

Groans came from the group.

"So, what do you think the challenge is going to be?" asked Valkyrie

"I don't know, it's something to do with a basement so… I don't know maybe there's different antiquities and we have to determine what they are, when they were made and by whom." suggested Ino

Shikamaru snorted.

"What's so funny?" glared Ino

"Don't worry they wouldn't give you something so difficult Ino." Shikamaru replied lazily.

"WHAT DO MEAN BY THAT!"

"I thought it was perfectly obvious, but seriously it won't be anything like that."

"HOW THE HELL WOULD YOU KNOW?!"

"Stop shouting Ino you troublesome woman, I'll tell you. Seeing as one group doesn't have any of the invited genii in it, the challenge will be something that doesn't just require brain power."

"You are correct Shikamaru, although at first it may s…seem that you w…would have an advantage, w…w…when doing the c…challenge you will f…find the opposite is t…true."

"Speaking of which, what is it?" asked Shikamaru

"Idiot, she said she would tell us when we get there weren't you listing" said Ino huffily because Shikamaru was right. (A/N You would think that Ino would be used to that by now.)

"Yes I was listing, so I also know she said we would arrive in two-hundred and thirty seven steps and if I'm correct we are on the Two hundred and thirty fourth step." He replied coolly.

"WHAT! We're no where near the bottom yet, look the stairs go on"

"No Shikamaru is right there is a corridor just to the right that will bring us into the room we need." Melody explained

"Okay so let's head in and see what the mystery challenge is." Skulduggery said.

"humf." Butler grunted in agreement.

With Skulduggery and Butler

When Melody opened the door, everyone stared inside. The room was bright and airy despite being meters underground. One side of the room was a huge floor-to-ceiling window over looking a gigantic labyrinth, so large that you couldn't see the end of it.

To the other side of the room there was three lifts.

"W…well you've probably g…guessed what the c…challenge is now, b…but I'll explain anyway. Each group will take a lift down to the labyrinth, each lift opens in a different part and you have to try to be the first group back here. Somewhere in the maze there is the end of the staircase. To make it more interesting the last group back has to clean up after dinner." Explained Melody.

'hm, interesting she seems to forget about her stutter when she explains things. Even more interesting I wonder who will win.' Thought Skulduggery.

"When will the challenge begin?" asked Butler.

Everyone (apart from Artemis) stared at him.

"Problem?" He asked.

Everyone one looked away embarrassed.

"It's just the first time the have heard you speak. They probably thought you couldn't." Artemis said to him.

"hmf"

"T…the challenge will begin when e…everyone gets into a lift." Said Melody.

"We'll take the left one." Said Ino and Artemis in unison.

"I'm sorry I think you must be mistaken but my team will take the left lift." Artemis glared

"What makes you think that, my team obviously is getting the lift." Said Ino in a high pitched voice that meant if-you-do-not-give-up-I-will-cause-you-severe-pain.

Queue the death glare staring match.

"A…actually the lifts are a…already picked out." Melody stuttered.

"SO WHICH GROUP GETS THE LEFT LIFT!?" shouted Artemis and Ino together.

With Ino and Valkyrie

As the girls got into the right lift Ino started whining.

"I can't believe we didn't get the lift. It's so unfair."

"It's just a lift it doesn't make that much of a difference." Valkyrie sweat-dropped.

With Shikamaru and Artemis

"How irritating, we didn't get the left one. Your friend is very annoying." complained

"Trust me I know. What's the big deal with the left lift?"

"Nothing really I just like the alliteration of saying left lift."

With Skulduggery and Butler

"I wonder why those two were fighting over this lift, there doesn't seem to be anything special about it." Pondered Skulduggery out loud

"hm" came the reply


	10. Chapter 10

**Uh just finished my exams. They suck! So unfortunately (for them) I took it out on the characters in the form of the elevator from hell mah ha ha ha . So here is chapter 10! hope you enjoy.  
**

* * *

**Chapter 10**

With Artemis and Shikamaru

"O…okay now that e…everyone is in their lift. They will be l…lowered into the l…labyrinth." Melody called out.

The lift doors closed and the lift lowered with a high-pitched humming noise.

To his credit Artemis managed to put up with this for about 6 seconds (a new record for him) before giving out about how bad the management is if they can't even make sure that the equipment is in order.

"And really can't they make this thing go any faster." He complained

Exactly after he said the lift stopped.

"We haven't reached the ground yet. How come we're stopping" voiced Shikamaru.

Then the lift started making a whirling noise and suddenly shot to the left at break-neck speed.

"What the hell!" Shikamaru shouted, Artemis looked like he was going to get sick.

Then the lift switched directions again, not slowing down. Artemis was thrown to the other side of the lift however Shikamaru remained where he was although he did seem startled by the sudden change of direction.

"How are you able to just stand there without being flung into the lift wall" Artemis said in disbelieve.

Shikamaru was about to answer when the lift changed direction again. And yet again Artemis was thrown off his feet but this time he was ready and stopped himself from hitting against the wall. Shikamaru looked at him amused still standing up like they weren't going to die from a broken neck in an out-of-control elevator.

"Ninja are able to send chakra to their feet which sticks them to whatever surface they're touching. We can walk up walls, on the ceiling and stand up in a demented lift.

Suddenly the lift stopped. Shikamaru caught Artemis before he slammed head first into the lift doors.

"Thank you, that was very much appreciated." Artemis said after he recover his breath.

"No problem." Shikamaru replied.

Then the lift lowered at a normal speed, but with the incredible annoying squeaky noise.

Artemis looked at the ceiling of the lift.

"I'm scared of saying anything bad of this lift again" he said only half-joking.

"I can agree with you on that." Shikamaru replied.

With Ino and Valkyrie

As the elevator slowed down, the girls let out a sigh of relive. Ino had complained about the elevator and how slow it was, Then the elevator must have felt insulted as it went for a joy-ride all around the labyrinth at break-neck speed. The girls had clung on to each other screaming their heads off, when thankfully the elevator slowed down and stopped. When it reached the floor the doors opened.

"Well, should we go out?" Asked Valkyrie

"I guess so." Answered Ino.

The elevator made an angry whirling noise.

"MAKE THAT A YES!" shouted Ino and the two girls ran for their lives out of the elevator of doom.

Out of the elevator the girls looked around. They were in a straight corridor.

"We should probably make a plan about where we're going to go. Did you keep track of where we were going in the elevator?" said Valkyrie

"I was too busy trying to keep myself from throwing up. How about yourself?"

"Same. We could be anywhere. Maybe we should just a path and start walking."

"Sounds like a good idea. So, which way?"

"I don't know maybe that way." Valkyrie said as she pointed behind Ino.

"Okay lets start walking."

With Skulduggery and Butler

"So…" Skulduggery said trying to break the uncomfortable silence. They had walked in silence for over an hour, every time they came to a fork in the road Skulduggery would point and Butler would make a grunting noise, which Skulduggery took as a yes.

"Hmf" replied Butler

Skulduggery sighed. He could understand that some people like to keep to themselves and usually Skulduggery would respect this, however under the circumstances that was just plain awkward.

'I hope that he is just shocked from that terrifying journey in the elevator. (That elevator did spins that would have made a ballerina jealous.) Otherwise this is going to be one long day.' He thought to himself.

Soon they came to another fork in the road.

"How about we go this way?" Skulduggery asked pointing to the right fork.

"Hmf"

So they headed down the right fork.

"This is odd the decoration seems to have changed." Skulduggery said not expecting a reply.

The path they had walked on looked like something you'd expect to see in a city. Roads, traffic lights, tall buildings. There was even liter! However it was completely deserted and so silent was almost scary.

This path looked like a trip through a castle. Medieval suits of armor stood guarding the carpet they were walking on.

Butler and Skulduggery walk through a massive pair of doors; they walked about 10 more steps before they realized that the room was a dead-end. They were about to turn around and leave when the heard the distinct sound of doors slamming.

Butler tried pulling at the doors but they wouldn't budge. Then they heard a blood curdling scream behind them.


	11. Chapter 11

Hey guys sorry for the late update. My Internet disappeared again :(. But it's back now so here is Chapter 11. Hope you Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 11

With Butler and Skulduggery

Skulduggery turned around slowly. After years of being attacked by magical monsters that were protecting whatever Skulduggery was trying to investigate, he had learned that sudden movements can startle them. He had also learned that 99.9%, startling monsters is not in your best interest if you want to live to see another day. When he did turn around fully and looked up and stared. The thing was ENORMOUS, it looked like someone had gotten different parts of the most disgusting and horrifying creatures and stitched them together. It had no eyes just layer of thick scabby skin where they were supposed to be.

It had a scorpion's tail which it must have used for attacking.

It opened its mouth (which had four rows of very, _very_ sharp teeth) and let out another scream. Then it charged towards them! The tail whipped for them but Butler and Skulduggery jumped out-of-the-way.

Skulduggery wasting no further time, snapped his palms together and sent a ripple of air towards the monster. The displaced air hit the creäture; however it did little more than focus its attention on Skulduggery.

"Damn it" Skulduggery cursed. (Okay he might have said something a little stronger but I can't be bothered to change the rating.)

Butler seeing that Skulduggery's magic (at least that was what Butler thought it was) didn't work, he pulled out one of many guns he always had on his person and fired at the creäture. The bullet didn't have much effect on the monster but the sound of the gun firing did. The creäture seemed confused for a second or two but soon snapped out of it and darted towards them. However Skulduggery was ready for it this time. He snapped his palms this time not at the creäture but the walls around it. The walls exploded and in the process made a huge bang. The creäture was stunned. Quickly Butler fired 6 bullets into the monster's skull. Then the monster collapsed.

Skulduggery nudged the monster gently with his foot.

"I think it's dead" he stated

"Hm."

"Oh look there's something tied to its tail."

Butler glanced over. There was a small pouch with a string tied around the bottom of the stinger. Skulduggery carefully made his way over and untied the pouch.

"What's in it?" Butler asked.

Skulduggery smiled. 'Yes! He finally said something other than 'hm.''

And Skulduggery opened the pouch.

* * *

With Shikamaru and Artemis

"This is too easy." Artemis stated.

Shikamaru looked over at Artemis. He had looked at the ceiling at clouds, it seemed whoever designed the labyrinth had kept his entertainment needs in mind and had painted clouds on the ceiling. Not as good as real clouds but they would do.

"What do you mean?" Shikamaru asked.

"We have just been walking through corridors for the past hour or so, not exactly challenging unless the challenge is not to die from boredom. I expected that there would be puzzles or riddles to slow us down or something." Artemis explained.

"Don't count your chickens before they're hatched. For all we know something could be behind those doors." Shikamaru replied lazily.

Indeed there was a pair of small doors in front of them which looked like they lead into a small broom closet.

"Do you want to enter first?" Shikamaru asked.

"If you don't mind" said Artemis as he pushed the doors open. The room inside was decorated like the inside of the Egyptian pyramids, on the walls were hieroglyphics and dotted around were humongous statues of the Ancient Egyptian gods.

"Interesting décor. What are the pictures on the wall for? It looks like a different language" stated Shikamaru.

Artemis stared at him.

"Problem?" Shikamaru asked.

"You really have never heard of hieroglyphics!" Artemis said skeptically.

"Hi-ro-what?"

"Hieroglyphics. You know, the Ancient Egyptians, the ones who built the pyramids, one of the wonders of the world!"

Shikamaru just stared at him blankly.

"I guess there were no Ancient Egyptians in our world." Shikamaru said in his usual monotone.

"Fascinating. Could you tell me if…"

Artemis was cut off by a low growl. The two boys turned around and spotted a creäture that had the face of a beautiful woman but had the body of a lion. A Sphinx!

"Hello my darlings, how about we play a game." She/it purred.

* * *

With Ino and Valkyrie 

"Uh how many flipping doors and corridors are in this place?" Ino complained for the hundredth time and Valkyrie agreed for the hundredth time. However Valkyrie was worried, she could have sworn she felt Skulduggery's magic awhile ago and if Skulduggery was using magic that meant he was fighting.

'Maybe Butler attacked him!' Valkyrie's brain shouted at her.

Even though Valkyrie knew that Skulduggery could easily defend himself, Valkyrie didn't know how he would fare against a half-human half-gorilla.

"You know your friend Skulduggery will be fine, even if he did use his chakra it's probably nothing to worry about." Ino said.

Valkyrie nodded. During the time they had wandered around Ino had explained everything about chakra and ninjutsu and Valkyrie about magic and its different types, so she understood what Ino meant by chakra. They turned around yet another corner but when the looked up…

"It can't be! No way t-t-that shouldn't be possible" Ino gasped.

Valkyrie stared with her mouth open. "This has to be a dream."

* * *

Thank you to Namna-dono and lidh for reviewing. I hope I didn't mistake the Sphinx with some other mythical creäture. I have a terrible feeling that it's Greek or something. I get them mixed up easily. lol.


	12. Chapter 12

This chapter just has Artemis and Shikamaru in it. Also if you have heard of these riddles before that might be because I got them from a popular game where the main character wears a top hat. Any ideas? lol

Hope you enjoy chapter 12 please review and a million thanks to those who have :D.

* * *

Chapter 12

With Artemis and Shikamaru

"First thing, I am not your 'darling'; Second; we don't have time to be playing your silly, little games and lastly you can tell us what direction we are supposed to take." Said Artemis in his best 'I am much better, cleverer and richer that you' voice.

The Sphinxes purr quickly turned into a growl.

"If that's the case then I guess I'll just have to kill you." She said in a board voice flipping out her gigantic claws.

Artemis instantly paled and took a quick step backwards. Shikamaru stepped in front of him.

"W-wait, what my friend meant was that the game can't be too easy because we are both genii and if it was too easy it wouldn't be any fun." Shikamaru hurriedly explained.

Artemis glared at Shikamaru. 'In some aspects Artemis is just like Ino. Even when I'm trying to save our butts he glares at me for correcting what he'd said. How troublesome.' Shikamaru thought.

"Don't worry it won't be easy. It's a game of riddles; even genii will find this difficult. However if you still feel that it is boring then how about we make a deal. If you answer all the riddles correctly then I will show you the way to the stairs." The Sphinx once again purred.

"And if we lose" piped up Artemis.

"I hate to use clichés but if you lose I kill you."

Artemis beckoned Shikamaru over.

"Do you think we can trust her?" Shikamaru asked.

"In mythology, Sphinxes usually keep their side of deals if the challenger wins, so I think we can trust her. How good are you at solving riddles?"

"Okay I guess. I'm better at figuring out chess or shogi moves but I'm good when it comes to riddles where you have to switch and move things around to find the answer."

"Then we are a good match up as I quite good at riddles with words and math."

"When are we going to start playing?" the Sphinx hissed impatiently.

Artemis and Shikamaru looked at each other and nodded.

"Oh good, oh before we start we should play some music." The Sphinx said eagerly.

She unsheathed one of her claws and brought it to the pyramid on her collar and flipped open the top part of it. The little pyramid was actually a music box and was playing the theme song from a well-known video-game where you solve puzzles.

'Was it called Professor Larry and the secretive town? No, oh who cares anyway.' Artemis thought to himself.

**"PUZZLE NUMBER 01" **The Sphinx shouted and she unveiled a magnetic board with 3 wolf magnets, 3 chicken magnets and a raft magnet.

"This one is quite famous so consider this as a warm up. You must get the 3 wolves and 3 chickens across the board safely using the raft. However, no more than two animals can ride the raft at the same time, there must be one animal on board the raft for it to move and If more wolves than chickens are on one side of the board, the wolves will eat them, and then I'll eat you"

"Uh, I solved this when I was three. How troublesome." Shikamaru groaned as he walked over to the board.

First he put two wolves on the raft and moved them to the right side of the board. Then he brought one wolf back and when he reached the other side he put the other wolf on the raft and brought them back to the right side. There were now three chickens on the left side and three wolves on the right. Then Shikamaru ferried one wolf back and then swapped it for two chickens. So now there are one wolf and one chicken on the left side, and two wolves with two chickens on the right.

"Hurry up would you!" Artemis shouted at him.

"What a drag."

Then Shikamaru shifted one chicken and one wolf back to the left side, dropped off the wolf and added another chicken and brought them to the right. Now all three chickens with one wolf were on the right side. Then he transported the wolf to the left, picked up another wolf, dropped it off on the right side and went to pick up the last wolf.

"Correct, your lives are safe for now. Now for the next puzzle!" The Sphinx commented.

"**PUZZLE NUMBER 02: **A father and son are chatting. The son asks 'Dad I'm 22 now but just how old are you?' The father replies 'You want to know how old I am huh, I'll tell you what. I'm as old as your age plus half of my age.' What age is the father?"

"Your turn" Shikamaru simply said to Artemis.

"Pah, easy, The father is 44 years of age. What the father basically is saying is that if you add half of his age to the son's age then you will find out how old the father is. If that is so, then the son's age is half of the father's age and 22 times by 2 is 44.

"Correct. To the next one." The Sphinx said. And so the puzzles continued until…

"So far you have gotten every single riddle correct. This is the last one, pass this and I will show you the way to the stairs." The Sphinx unveiled another board this time though it had a picture of a man in an armchair in a room full of junk.

**PUZZLE 10:** "Behold! Before you sits the laziest man on earth." The Sphinx announced.

'Ha! Take that Ino, I'm not the laziest person after all.' Thought Shikamaru.

"This slug has designed his house so that he can grab anything without leaving the comfort of his recliner. Using an elaborate set of tools including a fishing rod, extendo-arm, and high-energy magnets, this legendary loafer has put everything in the room within reach. However, despite his efforts there is one place where he has to get up to reach. Draw a circle where you think this place is."

Shikamaru looked at Artemis and said "Any ideas?"

"Nothing jumps out at me."

Shikamaru sighed but then perked up. He remembered when he had first learned how to use the shadow stitching technique he had tried using it to get everything he needed without getting out from bed. However his mother decided to put essential things such as his shogi board under the bed and Shikamaru had to get up off the bed to find it.

"I know where to draw the circle" he announced making Artemis jump.

"If you're sure then draw it already."

Shikamaru grabbed the marker and drew a circle at the bottom of the chair.

"Damn, how could these humans beat me?" Said a disbelieving Sphinx.

"Keep your end of the bargain; show us where the stairs are." Artemis demanded.

"Fine" the sphinx spat. It's this way and she lead them through a door on the left.

"I wonder how the other groups are doing. I doubt they get a sphinx to lead them around." Shikamaru said.

"I agree" said Artemis 


	13. Chapter 13

Hi guys, I know the last chapter was a bit boring so I hope I did better this time. :D

This time it's Valkyrie and Ino. Hope you have a merry Christmas and that you enjoy this new chapter.

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Chapter 13

With Valkyrie and Ino

"It can't be! No way t-t-that shouldn't be possible" Ino gasped.

Valkyrie stared with her mouth open.

"This has to be a dream." She gasped.

In front of Ino and Valkyrie was… Ino and Valkyrie, however something was off about their expressions. They looked crueller, more evil.

"So the idiots finally managed to find their way here." Said the 'other' Valkyrie in a higher pitched voice which made shivers run down the 'original' Valkyrie's back.

"About time to, I was getting sooooo board." The other Ino drawled.

"Agreed, time to have some fun I think." Other Valkyrie said as they walked towards Ino and Valkyrie.

Ino took up a fighting stance as she called out "You know we don't have to fight, you can just let us pass with no harm done."

"We could do that… but that'd be no fun" other Ino replied with a creepy grin.

Valkyrie clicked her fingers and fire appeared in her hand.

"Tut tut Valkyrie you'll have to do better than that." Grinned Other Valkyrie and she lifted one hand and a jet of flames shot towards Valkyrie and Ino! They both jumped out-of-the-way, just managing to avoid the burning flames. Then, out of nowhere Other Ino ran at them holding a kunai knife. Ino blocked Other Ino from slitting her throat with her own kunai knife, then the two of them ran out of sight attacking and defending with kunai knifes.

"I guess it's just you and me now." Other Valkyrie drawled.

"Although I don't like having to hurt someone with such a pretty face, I don't really have much choice this time." Valkyrie replied sarcastically.

Other Valkyrie punched the air and displaced air shot towards Valkyrie! One hit Valkyrie right in the stomach, she felt as though she just had been run over by a truck.

"Oh don't worry that one wasn't fatal, I like to play a bit before finally killing someone." Other Valkyrie haughtily called out.

Valkyrie wanted to be sick however she needed to get out of this situation more so she held herself together. She tried shooting more fireballs at Other Valkyrie but she simply just scrunched her fist together and water just materialized snuffing out the fireballs.

'Damn she is better at water manipulation than me. Well done Valkyrie you have just been beaten at something by yourself.' Valkyrie thought bitterly.

Then Valkyrie had an idea.

"Given up trying to fry me? You mustn't be as good at fire as I thought you were" taunted Valkyrie.

Other Valkyrie grinned and shot more flames but this time Valkyrie was ready and jumped above them, and in-mid-air she clapped her hands together and the displaced air hit Other Valkyrie at the speed of a truck. Other Valkyrie shot backwards and hit a wall with a loud crunch. Valkyrie twisted her body and landed on her feet.

"Well that's that, I guess I should find Ino." Said Valkyrie out-loud.

"Even if someone survived that then they'd be knocked unconscious."

Then Valkyrie noticed something on the ground. It looked like a ripped piece of paper.

Valkyrie picked it up and put it in her pocket. She didn't know why but she felt it was important somehow. Then she went to find Ino.

* * *

Ino ducked, Other Ino had thrown a kunai with an explosive tag tied to it. In the smoke cloud that had been created by the explosion, Ino threw two kunai simultaneously where she could sense Other Ino's chakra. Ino heard the distinct sound of metal hitting off metal, and ran towards the source of the sound with her fist loaded with enough chakra to bring down a small elephant. She punched something then cursed when she realized that Other Ino had used a decoy Jutsu. Ino let all of her senses go into hyper mode, if she concentrated enough she could hear the sound of footsteps running around her. She gasped and rolled just in time as several shrunken now dotted the ground where she had stood a second ago.

Then Ino's arm started stinging.

'It looks like one of the shuriken did hit me after all.' Thought Ino. 'The wound doesn't look like it is poisonous. So that makes the shrunken a little less deadly, great. If this keeps up for any longer she might just hit a vital point, I have to come up with a plan now without Shika.'

Then Ino's eyes lit up, she had an idea.

"Where are you Ino, I'll get board if you don't come out soon." Other Ino called out eerily. Other Ino then spotted a shape in the dust cloud. 'Got you, this is too easy.' Other Ino thought to herself. She ran at the Ino shaped shape with a kunai knife in hand and stabbed Ino in the back. Other Ino grinned to herself, but quickly stopped when she felt something warm and wet trickling down her back. "How are you alive?" Other Ino gasped.

"Clone" Ino simply replied. Then Other Ino stopped moving.

Ino sighed she didn't like having to 'finish a job' but some things are necessary when fighting for your life. Ino looked down and saw a ripped piece of paper. She picked it up and saw there was a message on it:

Don't tru…

"Looks like the rest of the message has been ripped off, don't tru? I wonder what the rest of the message says." Ino said to herself then she turned when she heard Valkyrie calling her name. She tensed remembering that Valkyrie had fought her double as well, for all Ino knew this was Other Valkyrie coming back to finish her off.

"Valkyrie don't come any closer. Not until I prove it's you." Ino called out.

Valkyrie frowned at first and then realized that Ino had a point.

"Okay, but you don't mind if I do the same do you?" Valkyrie replied.

"Fine, Okay here is my question 'Who are my best friends?'" Ino asked.

'Ino said something about her best friends? I don't remember that coming up in our conversations down here… oh wait this morning didn't she say something about Shikamaru and another guy er… Choji I think. Wow this morning feels like it was weeks ago.' Valkyrie thought.

"Um I think Shikamaru and Choji is the answer." Valkyrie hesitantly.

Ino merely nodded then said "Your turn to ask."

Valkyrie thought hard then a question came into her head.

"What's the first thing Skulduggery said when he came into the room where we first met?"

Ino smiled

"Sorry we got lost on the road of life." She answered.

"Correct" Valkyrie said as she walked over to Ino.

"I found this ripped piece of paper, it seemed to have a message on it but the rest of it has been torn off, so I couldn't make out what it was." Ino said filling in Valkyrie about her discovery.

"Hang on a second, I think I might have found the other half." Valkyrie answered taking out her ripped piece of paper. She put it next to Ino's, they fitted perfectly but the message still made no more sense to them.

"Don't trust the Sphinx. What the hell does that mean? And here I thought it was going to be a way out of this labyrinth." Ino complained.

"Well I know that a Sphinx is a mythological creäture from Egypt I think, but we haven't encountered any. Maybe there is one up a head." Valkyrie said.

"Well we're going to have to carry on anyway. I saw a corridor back the way, do you want to go that way?" Ino asked.

"Sure." And the two girls headed off their eyes peeled for any Sphinxes.


	14. Chapter 14

Hey sorry for the delayed update. I was in Roscommon visiting relatives :D. Good thing I posted my other story's chapter sooner lol. Anyway here is chapter 14. Hope you enjoy :D

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Chapter 14

With Artemis, Shikamaru and the Sphinx

The Sphinx had led Shikamaru and Artemis around the labyrinth for what felt like hours. If Artemis didn't know better he would have thought that she was leading them around in circles. They walked for another 5 minutes when the Sphinx suddenly took an unexpected right in a huge courtyard which reminded Artemis of a prison.

As soon as Shikamaru and Artemis walked into the courtyard a gate swung across the exit.

"Hey what's going on?" Shikamaru shouted at the Sphinx who was now licking her paws.

"I thought a genius like you would have guessed. I can't let my reputation of being the greatest Sphinx at riddles be soiled by two children, so I am going to kill you." She purred.

"I'll give you to the count of ten to say your goodbyes to each other." The Sphinx said with a huge grin on her face that could have rivaled the Cheshire cat.

Shikamaru glanced around the courtyard. There were five other doors other than the one Shikamaru and Artemis came through but the Sphinx was blocking their escape route.

"I thought you said that you could trust Sphinxes!" Shikamaru yelled at Artemis.

"In the legends the Sphinxes WERE trustworthy. How was I supposed to know that this one has a different agenda?"

Shikamaru turned his gaze to the Sphinx.

"How come you broke your promise?" he asked her.

"We aren't in ancient Egypt" she quipped. "Times up prepare to die."

And the Sphinx pounced towards them.

* * *

With Ino and Valkyrie

They had walked for a few minutes, still recovering from having to fight themselves. They were in the middle of playing Would You Rather.

"Okay would you rather… marry Shikamaru or kiss a frog?" Valkyrie asked Ino.

Ino made a face of disgust and thought for a moment or two.

"Kiss the frog because at least it would be over in a second but if I had to put up with that slob for the rest of my life I would go insane." She said eventually.

"So would you rather…" Ino began her question but was cut off by a high-pitched scream. Ino and Valkyrie looked towards each other.

"That sounded a bit like…" Valkyrie trailed off.

"There's no way" Ino replied.

And the two girls ran off towards the source of the scream.

'It didn't sound to far away but in a labyrinth it could take ages to find the source.' Ino thought.

The scream led them to a small doorway. Valkyrie peaked inside and gasped.

"What's inside?" Ino asked and she shoved Valkyrie over. Ino saw what she thought was a gigantic cat, attacking the git Artemis (who was the one screaming his head off) and Shikamaru. Shikamaru shouted "Shadow possession Jutsu." And his shadow latched on to the gigantic cat.

Though it seemed that Shikamaru had control of the cat he was clearly having difficulty keeping it. Then the cat spoke "You'll have to do better than that, maybe you should get your pathetic little friends to help you instead of them hiding in the door way."

"That must be the Sphinx the note was talking about. We should probably help them. Well really just Shikamaru, I don't really feel like joining Artemis in screaming my head off." Valkyrie said.

Ino nodded and they both ran inside the courtroom. Ino threw shuriken and kunai knives but they just hit the Sphinx's fur and bounced off.

"Ha, my fur is like armor, a little squirt with sticks isn't going to hurt me." The Sphinx laughed and broke out of Shikamaru's Jutsu. Shikamaru fell backwards exhausted. Valkyrie shot fire at the Sphinx distracting her from Shikamaru as Ino ran over to help him. When Shikamaru caught his breath he said "We need to find it's weak spot, there has to be one area not covered by its fur."

"What about her stomach?" Ino asked.

"No, no, no, that would never work. How would we able to get her on her back, and you would get sliced to pieces by her claws before you got close enough to do any damage with your knives." Artemis said (he had recovered from his impression of a banshee) as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Well what do you suggest?" Ino snapped back.

"Under her chin, it's doesn't have any protection, it's an easy target if we just get her to look up, if you hit the right spot it would be a fatal hit." Artemis easily listed off.

Shikamaru nodded.

"Here is the plan. Artemis you'll have to tell Valkyrie." And Shikamaru told them his plan, after he had finished Artemis hurried over to Valkyrie (who was still distracting the Sphinx) and told her the plan. She nodded her head and ran over to Ino. Then Artemis gulped. His part of the plan was basically what he did on a normal day, out smarting people (mostly adults) who thought they were smarter than him. Normally he enjoyed doing this, however normal the people he annoyed did not have meter long claws and razor-sharp teeth. He hoped that the Sphinx didn't rip his suit after all it wasn't cheap.

He called over to the Sphinx. "You know your riddles were pathetic. A five-year old could solve them. I think we should stop calling you a Sphinx after all you clearly don't deserve the title. How about little kitty?"

The Sphinx turned to face Artemis "You won't be so talkative after I slice your throat."

"Bad kitty, I'll have to get the spray gun."

"You insolent little brat!" and the Sphinx tried to run towards Artemis but suddenly stopped. Shikamaru had stopped her with his shadow again. Artemis used this time to run to safety.

"How long can you keep your Jutsu up for kid?" The Sphinx hissed.

"As long as I need to" Shikamaru replied.

He released the Jutsu. The Sphinx snarled and was just about to swipe her paw at him when he pointed behind her and said "You might want to look behind you."

The Sphinx turned and a kunai knife just missed the top of her head and lodged itself in the roof.

"Ha nice try brats but you missed." But then her ears picked up a sizzling sound.

'Damn an explosive tag' the Sphinx thought and looked up to see a piece of paper on fire stuck to the kunai.

Her eyes widened 'I was tricked!' she thought before feel something cold slice across her neck. 'They cut of my collar I will make them pay' was the last thought she would ever have.

* * *

Artemis picked up the collar. 'That's odd gravity should be making the pyramid point downwards but it's pointing towards the door to the left… a compass pointing to the stairs maybe.' He thought. 'I should show this to Shikamaru and hopefully we can avoid the other two.'

However that wasn't going to happen for Artemis as Ino noticed him studying the collar.

"What do you have there?" she asked in a loud voice and Shikamaru's headed looked up.

'Damn if I say nothing interesting it will look out-of-place if I bring it with me but if I say what it is they'll try and steal it.' Artemis thought.

'If I tell them what it is there is a chance that we will be able to keep it.' Artemis made his decision.

"I think it's a compass pointing to the stairs. See the pyramid is pointing to the door on the left." He said.

This made Valkyrie and Ino stare at the pyramid, tensing, ready to pounce on it at the slightest opportunity.

Shikamaru noticed this and spoke up "How about we travel together, that means we tie so neither team loses, also if one team doesn't use the pyramid who knows how long they'll be wandering around here for?"

Artemis sighed "He's correct, although I don't like it; it seems that this is the best option."

The girls looked at each other, then Valkyrie nodded and Ino sighed. "Fine we'll work together, but just for the record we are much better than you guys." Ino agreed begrudgingly.

So the two teams headed off together, following the pyramid's directions. The journey was uneventful just with arguments popping up every few minutes. Finally they turned one last corner and there in front of them was the staircase. The two groups looked at each other. "You know the first group who reaches the room we started in is the winner. So if one group were to run up the stairs and reach the door to the room first they would win." Valkyrie pointed out. The two groups waited a few more seconds, then they ran at the stairs at the same time.

Some how both teams managed to elbow themselves up the stairs and arrive at the door. Artemis somehow opened it while being pinned down by Ino and when the door swung open both teams fell into the room in a pile. Then Ino and Artemis managed to untangle themselves and they jumped up and both said "My team won looks like they have to clean up after dinner."

"W-w-well that's not quite true. Both of your teams have to do dinner." Melody said softly.

"WHAT! How come!" Ino shouted.

"W-w-well you see, you tied and the other team is already here, for quite some time now." Melody explained.

'Other team… oh she must mean Skulduggery's.' Valkyrie thought and sure enough he was looking at her his head tilted to the side. Valkyrie realized that she was still on the ground and stood up quickly.

"How did you get here so fast?" She asked hurriedly.

Skulduggery showed her something in his hand and said "We found this sat-nav in a pouch in the maze."

"You're kidding me."

"Nope, although why a monster had a sat-nav on him is a complete mystery to me but I'm not complaining."

"T-t-that's not fair."

"Of course it is. Oh and when washing up be careful not to break any of the dishes."


	15. Chapter 15

Hey guys. Sorry that this chapter is kind of short. Hope you enjoy it anyway.

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Chapter 15

With Valkyrie and Skulduggery

After the groups had recovered from their adventures through the labyrinth they headed off to dinner. There was enough food there to feed over a hundred people; the tables seemed to groan with the weight of the food. Valkyrie was about to inhale all the food on her plate when she remembered that she was trying to prove she was lady-like, so she made sure that she kept to all the table manners she had been taught and she didn't eat much as she would have wanted. While waiting for the plates to clear she looked around the room and noticed that another four people had joined the table.

A broad, short man who had his graying hair slicked back with hair gel, next to him was a tall woman who looked like she was sucking a lemon, she had small beady eyes that didn't do anything other than glare at who ever they were looking at. To her right sat two twin boys, about five years old with bright blond hair and big goofy grins on shivered she got a horrible feeling about those two boys, even though they weren't doing anything that would suggest it, Valkyrie just knew they were the kind of people who pour salt on snails and laugh their heads off as the snail shrivels up and dies.

"Who are they? I don't remember seeing them before." Valkyrie whispered to Skulduggery. "Probably Melody's family, the owners of this house and the man is probably the person who started this festival." He replied back.

"It could've been the woman." Valkyrie shot back even though she didn't really think that the woman who looked like she listened to babies crying to help get her to sleep would organize something that would mean meeting other people.

The man stood up and cleared his throat which sounded like a car trying and failing to start. "Finally we are able to meet, I am Mr. Trawl and I am the person who has organized this festival, this is my family, my wife Michelle, my two twin sons Robert and David and you have already met my… daughter Melody. I hope she hasn't been too bothersome, she can be a bit slow sometimes." Mr. Trawl said in a voice of a person who is used to looking down on everyone. Valkyrie looked over at Melody, she was standing up straight and had her fists clenched.

"That's a little harsh Mr. Trawl, Melody doesn't seem at all slow. In fact she seems to be a bright young woman to me." Skulduggery said.

Mrs. Trawl snorted in disbelief and said in an accent Valkyrie couldn't place "For normal people yes but in this family she is incredible stupid, a shame to this family."

With Ino and Shikamaru

Ino couldn't believe her ears. How could a mother say that about her child?! Melody then spoke up "A-a-a-are you f-f-f-f-finished with y-y-your meal?" She stuttered.

"Stop stuttering you imbecile. Don't you know how to speak properly?" one of the twins piped up. Ino was just about to start yelling at the children to treat their sister with more respect when Shikamaru squeezed her hand and shook his head, telling her to not do anything stupid. Ino glared back at him but agreed to sit still and not to do anything.

Melody just stood there and didn't even snap back at her brothers, she started clearing up the plates and walked towards what Ino presumed were the kitchens. Ino looked back at the family who didn't seem to think it strange that they were making their Daughter/Sister do the cleaning while they insulted her. Ino was this close to standing up and punching each of them in face. But she knew she couldn't, this was to do their family and not with herself. Ino looked at Shikamaru who seemed to be having a similar argument with himself.

"You have a very odd way of treating your daughter. Most families do not belittle their daughter and then make her do a job that you have hired other people to do." Artemis said coldly. Ino stared at him, out of all the people here; he was the one she least expected to speak up against Mr. Trawl. Well the second least, if Butler spoke Ino thought the world would end.

With Artemis and Butler

Mrs. Trawl glared at Artemis "How we treat her is none of your concern, we get her to work here to keep her place in the family. She was an unfortunate accident and shouldn't exist. All she does is bring shame to this family. We enroll her into a school for child prodigies and her results were average at best. So we take her out of the school and home school her and she can never understand any of the questions let alone answer them. The twins are already past the level she was on in the school and could easily teach some of the teachers there. My husband has developed the technology that has brought you here today; being able to open doors into other worlds safely and easily is a great achievement.

I have one numerous awards for my work in medicine." She said in a cold, curt voice obviously saying that's it end of discussion however Artemis was not put off.

"Although it has nothing to do with me I feel that I am obliged to warn you, if you don't start treating her like an equal you will come to regret it someday."

Now Mr. Trawl started laughing "What will she do? Run me out of business? Become the head of a country? Murder me? I can assure you that girl does not have the intelligence of the nerve to do anything I just said."

Artemis gave one of his best vampire smiles "You'd be surprised."

And with that Artemis stood up and went to his room with Butler following after him.

Once they had disappeared from sight the family stood up and left leaving Shikamaru, Ino, Valkyrie and Skulduggery at the table.

"Well that was unexpected" Valkyrie said trying to break the silence.

The other three muttered their agreements.

"Well see you guys tomorrow for the next challenge. I wonder who we'll be paired with this time." Ino said.

"I just hope I don't get paired with Artemis's bodyguard. He doesn't look like the type of person who is very talkative or enjoys listing to people talk." Valkyrie replied.

"You can say that again" muttered Skulduggery.

"Good night" Shikamaru said and headed off to his bedroom.

"Night" said the other three and did the same.


	16. Chapter 16

hey guys super sorry about how late this chapter is but for some reason when I tried to post it my computer couldn't find chapter 16 :( so I had to type it up again and then it wouldn't upload. I beginning to think that 16 is the unlucky number not 13. So hopefully this will upload and you can read this.

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**Chapter 16**

Shikamaru, Ino and the others were waiting in room number 45 for Melody to tell them what challenge they would be doing today. Ino was annoyed because, Shikamaru thinking that it was too early to be up had fallen asleep, amazingly standing up, and was snoring his head off.

"SHIKAMARU! You lazy bum get up this instance!" she shouted at him.

He snorted and kept on snoozing away, which did not help Ino's mood. She grabbed him by his collar and shook him awake while yelling at him at the top of her voice.

"mfph how troublesome." Shikamaru muttered his catchphrase, finally awake. During all of that commotion no one noticed Melody slip into the room holding her clipboard, with the names of the teams for today. She coughed to get everyone's attention "G-g-good morning everyone. I h-h-hope you slept well, I will get s-s-straight to announcing the teams. Today the teams are: Artemis Fowl and Ino Yamanaka, Valkyrie Cain and Shikamaru Nara and last but not least Skulduggery Pleasant and Butler." She said.

Skulduggery inwardly groaned. 'Great, another day with Mr. I'm-so-like-a-gorilla-that-I-have-never-learnt-how-to-say-more-than-a-sentence.'

Ino and Artemis were equally displeased with who they were partnered with. If Ino was cross before then she was like a Tyrannosaurus-Rex now, it didn't help that Shikamaru was smirking at her, she was practically foaming at the mouth.

Valkyrie was fine with being paired with Shikamaru. She wanted to here more about Ino's childhood and she thought that it was very odd that two people so different could be friends. Butler was again nervous that he would be separated from Artemis again especially as that girl had already tried to attack him once before. However Artemis wasn't giving any sign that he wanted Butler to intervene, although he looked pretty annoyed that he'd have to spend the day with her.

"Today's c-c-challenge is a teamwork obstacle c-c-course. Y-you have to work with your partner and the f-f-first team that finishes can choose who they will be paired w-w-with next time." Melody stuttered nervously.

"What kind of obstacles will be on the course?" Skulduggery asked.

"G-g-good question. I d-d-don't know" Melody replied and gave a nervous laugh at the end.

"She doesn't know because I wouldn't trust her to set up the course, she would make the course something idiotic and too easy." Mr. Trawl appeared in the doorway and told them in his nasally voice. Melody pursed her lips but said nothing.

"Was she in charge of the last challenge?" Artemis asked.

"Good heavens no, she only charged with looking after the guests and even that requires a great deal of trust from my family and me."

"Excuse me sir but seeing as Melody is your daughter isn't she apart of your family?" Ino asked doing her best not to punch Mr. Trawl in the face.

Mr. Trawl laughed and then walked off to wherever he had to go, leaving Melody to answer the question. She looked at them and said "Mrs. Trawl isn't my mother. My biological mother killed herself when she realized that my father didn't love her because she wasn't 'smart enough'. She is the reason I'm named Melody, an idiotic name according to my father. The rest of the family doesn't treat me as an equal because they feel that I am a waste of space and if asked they would say that I'm not apart of their family."

They all stared at her including Butler.

'How she managed to say all that without her smile dropping from her face, stating it like it was normal.' Valkyrie thought to herself

Melody shook her head and asked if they would like to be brought to the next challenge.

They all nodded their heads and she took them down an even longer route than the one yesterday.

It seemed that this challenge was underground as well. They had been walking for a while when a question popped into Skulduggery's head.

"Melody, who was running the first challenge," he asked.

Melody looked at him and answered "One of the maids, why do you ask?"

"Well, we did get attack by terrifying monsters that nearly killed us. I was just wondering so I could give them a piece of my mind." He replied.

Valkyrie could have sworn that a smirk flashed across Melody's face but it was gone in an instance so Valkyrie thought it must have been a trick of the light.

"That's not right. The only monsters in the labyrinth are extremely weak and they couldn't anyone of you if they tried." Melody said looking very confused.

Shikamaru snorted "Yeah, that Sphinx wouldn't hurt a fly. It was just a really cute kitty-cat." He said sarcasm dripping from his voice.

Melody stopped in her tracks. "S-s-s-s-sphinx" she stuttered now looking extremely worried. The others nodded and Skulduggery said "and we had to fight this giant slug thingy-mo-bob which had a scorpion tail at the end of it."

Melody shook her head "There was only these kind of jelly monsters in the maze. My father strictly ordered that nothing too dangerous was to be put into the maze in case anything happened to his precious genii" They all looked at one another.

Melody sighed "as soon as we reach the challenge I will have to report this to my father. He'll probably blame me for this but we need to find out how they got into the labyrinth." And she ran on ahead. The others had to start jogging to keep up with her.

'She can run very fast for someone wearing a maid's outfit' Shikamaru thought 'How troublesome.'


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Eventually they made it to the arena. It was split up into thirds by tall stone walls.

'One for each group then.' Artemis thought after he had caught his breath.

"Mr. Fowl and Ms. Yamanaka your obstacle c-c-course is the last one over there. Mr. Nara and Ms. Cain y-y-your one is in the m-m-middle and Mr. Butler and Mr. Pleasant yours is the one closest t-t-to us." Melody told them.

"Once you h-h-have lined up I will b-b-blow a whistle and you may start the course. Usually I would watch but I have f-f-f-find my f-f-father." The three groups nodded and headed off to their different places. When the whistle was blown they raced forward into their course.

With Artemis and Ino

The first obstacle they came to was what looked like a giant hamster wheel. There was a closed stone door on the other side but was connected to the hamster wheel by steel ropes.

"There's no point in checking if the door will open or not. They're always locked. So do we have to turn the wheel to open the door then? It looks like it would take two people at least to try to make the wheel move two centimeters let alone all the way round. Maybe if you use that chakra thing your friend told me about it would work. So off you go and start running." Artemis said smugly.

Ino however didn't reply back she was too bust staring at the wheel, and then she looked at the door, then the ropes and back to the wheel.

"Hello? Can you hear me? You know it's very rude to ignore the person who is talking to you. I said that you have to turn the wheel." Artemis said crossly and took a step towards Ino but as soon as he took that step Ino's eyes widened and she tackled him to the ground.

"HOW DARE YOU! This suit cost 70,000 euro!" Artemis shouted at Ino but quickly became quite when he noticed that there was a knife sticking out of the ground where he had been standing a few seconds previously.

"WATCH WHERE YOU'RE WALKING! Did you really think that you could just walk around without looking for traps! Remember what Melody said, there is a person who has access to the arenas who doesn't want us coming back safely. For a genius you are pretty dense, did you even notice the very sharp objects hanging above us on steel ropes? If we move the wheel even a little bit all of them will be released on our heads, same if we move the door." Ino shouted back.

Artemis looked up and indeed there was a whole assortment of very sharp objects. He spotted several knifes, a few swords, a harpoon, stalactites, razors and massive chunks of scrap metal all dangling from ropes above their heads.

"If that's the case how are we going to get out of here, especially seeing as there are traps all around us?" he asked.

Ino shook her head. "That's the only trap on the floor the rest are all along the walls. I say they put it there to give us a bit of a fright."

'Bit of a fright? That's the understatement of the century.' Artemis thought to himself then he realized something. "There are traps on the wall that's it! They're expecting us to walk on the walls. The only way to move the wheel and he door is to get rid of all the weapons."

"Hang on a second; if they want us to use the walls shouldn't we avoid them?" Ino asked.

"You seem to be able to see the traps well enough and I have a few tricks up of my sleeves." Artemis replied. Ino frowned but Artemis looked her straight in the eye and said "Well do you have a better idea?"

"No, but I don't like the idea that this is all based on my ability to detect traps in walls. I mightn't be able to detect all of them and then we are both skewered."

"Just trust me." Artemis said with a less creepy smile than usual.

Ino sighed "Bloody guy, acting less creepy than usual then asking you to trust him when that smile could scare Kakashi." She muttered.

"So you'll do it then."

"Fine!" Ino snapped.

She walked over to the wall, checking that there weren't any traps nearby. She started concentrating and soon felt chakra flow to her feet, she hesitantly put her feet on the wall… and she managed to not set off any traps. She slowly walked up the wall eyes peeled for any traps after a few minutes she decided to check down on Artemis. She spotted him crouching on ground doing nothing to help her.

"You know you might want to start helping me after all if I 'accidentally' step on a trap all the very sharp objects will be aiming for you." She shouted at him. He looked up and glared "I will be helping shortly, I just need to fix a few things first." He spat.

'I wonder if Shikamaru has told him his list of excuses not to do any work, as that is excuse number 54 on page 10.' Ino thought to herself but she carried on anyway as if she was the one who got them out of this she could hold it over his head for the rest of the course.

Suddenly she heard a sort of humming noise and then scuttling she looked down at Artemis again and saw that he had a remote control in his hands and was looking at the opposite wall. Ino looked across and saw hundreds of mechanic spiders swarming all over the wall apart from small circles where the traps were hidden.

"What the hell!" Ino shouted.

"Oh do you mean these? These are my little creations, they are usually used for retrieval of objects that are out of reach and hard to get at." He said answering smugly but Ino just stared in reply.

"Don't judge, I made these when I was three, lots of things are out of reach when you're three. What you saw me doing a few minutes ago was upgrading them so they can sense and avoid the traps. By the way, if you want to help you better get a move on they're nearly finished." He smiled at her with his 100% vampire smile. Ino felt shivers going down her spine but she did notice a pile of weapons growing bigger every second behind Artemis.

"Bloody git." She grumbled and she made her way carefully back. When she was near enough the ground she jumped off.

"If you were just going to use your robots then why did I have to climb halfway up the wall, on edge the whole time fearing that I would step on a trap and have us both killed?" Ino ranted.

Artemis smiled at her "I like annoying you."

Ino just stared at him "What you. No one just says. You can't. YOU'RE SO…GAHHHH!" she shouted at him

"I think the word you are looking for is irritating."

"WHATEVER! Let's just move the hamster wheel already."

"Already done, you really are slow aren't you?"

At this point Ino was foaming at the mouth and just grabbed Artemis by his shirt collar and dragged him through the door.


	18. Chapter 18

Hey guys. Really sorry for not updating for the past few weeks. I had (and still do) writers block on this story and mountains of homework to do. I don't know what other obstacles to give them :(. Anyway hope you enjoy chapter 18 :)

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Chapter 18

With Valkyrie and Shikamaru

Even though for the first few seconds of the challenge they had sprinted off now Valkyrie and Shikamaru were pretty much strolling down the corridor to get to their first obstacle. Shikamaru had assured Valkyrie that even if the did race along the corridor it wouldn't make that much of a difference after all they would need time to catch their breath time that could be used to solve the obstacle, and while walking he could think about the different things that might appear and ways to solve them. 'Yeah right,' Valkyrie thought darkly 'he's probably day-dreaming or something. He really is laid-back.'

Then Shikamaru stopped suddenly. "Why did you stop? We still have to find the first obstacle." Valkyrie asked. Shikamaru raised an eyebrow and said "look at the ground, it has changed from a dust track to a black and white tiled floor. We are at the first obstacle. So where are the pieces?"

"What pieces," Valkyrie asked completely lost but then it dawned on her 'wait a minute black and white, checkered, pieces, a giant chessboard? What is this, Harry Potter?'

As soon as Valkyrie thought that they heard the sound of rumbling as though something as large as a small house was rolling towards them. Then a thunderous crash and lots of dust filled the air. When the dust cleared Valkyrie noticed gigantic circles had appeared on the 'chess board'.

"Oh, well there goes my idea." Shikamaru said in a monotone. Valkyrie looked at him.

"I thought it was going to be a chess game but…" he explained. Then Valkyrie suddenly realized "Not a chess game. It's a game of draughts!" she exclaimed.

"What's draughts?"

"You've never heard of it? It's the same as checkers… you know…" Valkyrie trailed off as Shikamaru shook his head.

"Right… we're in trouble then."

"Just tell me how you lose, how you win and how the pieces move" Shikamaru said not in his usual monotone still sound as though he would rather be sleeping but interested in learning a new type of strategy game.

"Look, there's no way you can win at a game you just learned the rules to and I'm terrible at draughts, my dad, Skulduggery, Ghastly, Tanith, they always beat me in ten seconds flat. Maybe we can just go back." Valkyrie suggested.

Shikamaru just shook his head and said "They already have closed the doors, and don't worry about me not wining. This game doesn't look half as complicated as shogi or even chess for that matter."

Valkyrie looked at him doubtfully but she sighed and started explaining the rules. He nodded his head after each one absorbing the information.

When Valkyrie finished her explanation he walked up the board and announced "Okay, we're ready." And one of the opposite pieces moved one space forward. Shikamaru called out one of his and Valkyrie's pieces to move forward. And so it went on for about five minutes without any side winning any pieces. When Shikamaru smirked and managed to take five pieces in one go and king one of his pieces in one move.

Soon the other side only had one piece left which was shortly captured by Shikamaru.

"You need to teach me how to do that. That'll rub the amused look on his face every time we play." Valkyrie exclaimed.

Shikamaru looked at her oddly "He doesn't have any face."

"Well yeah, but I can tell he's making fun of me."

"I'm sure you can." He said lazily and walked to the other room.

'And now I know why Ino wants to strangle him.' Valkyrie thought irritated

With Skulduggery and Butler

"Do you hear a click-clack noise up a head?" Skulduggery asked Butler as they were still heading for their first obstacle.

"Hm" Butler grunted.

'Someone should publish a dictionary for ape-man language. They would be a millionaire… well maybe not a millionaire but I would certainly like one right now.' Skulduggery thought.

They turned a corner and stopped dead. The source of the click-clack noise was a room full of sort of skeletons. However they weren't like our witty, cool, fantastic Mr. Pleasant oh no, these skeletons had a blood-red glow coming from their eyes, their bones were as black as coal, and they were giving out an evil aura they sort of feeling you would imagine grim reaper himself might give out on a bad day.

"Friends of yours" Butler asked.

'He has a sense of humor!' Skulduggery exclaimed (in his head of course, annoying an ape-man while being faced with a room full of evil skeletons is never a good idea.)

So Skulduggery did the smart thing as always and shook his head.

"Pity."

'HE WAS SERIOUS!'

"Any ideas on how across the room?" Skulduggery asked.

Butler just nodded and started walking towards the room. As soon as he put a toe in the room, all the skeletons looked out and started walking towards him. Butler merely glared at the closest one and swung his fist and the skeleton's head came clean off! The rest of its body crumpled to the ground and the red glow died.

The skeletons halted in their tracks including Skulduggery who had run after Butler hoping that he wasn't suicidal. Then the red-eyed skeletons ran at Butler, who ran towards the skeletons, knocking some of their heads off like the first one, breaking others ribs or legs. He even managed to entangle five of them together (How, Skulduggery had no idea and he wasn't sure if he wanted to find out.) Soon the room was clear from murderous skeletons apart from the piles of black bones on the ground.

"Their bones were stronger than normal skeletons." Butler said looking at Skulduggery, who made a mental note to never ever anger the ape-man. Then Butler merely walked to the next room stepping over pile of bones number 68.


	19. Chapter 19

**Hi guys. I'm really sorry that the updates aren't as regular as i would like them to be and also they're a lot shorter but hopefully after the obstacle course that will change as I have a fair idea of where the story is going to go after that. Hope you enjoy chapter 19 **

* * *

**Chapter 19**

With Ino

The door lead into a room full of mirrors, the walls, floor, ceiling and the pillars holding up the room were all reflecting Ino and Artemis at different angles.

"This is even worse than those rooms at carnivals; you know the house of mirrors?" Ino said expecting Artemis to be right behind her however he was nowhere to be seen.

"Artemis?" She said while trying to walk back but…

"Umpf, WHERE DID THIS MIRROR COME FROM? I walked there a few minutes ago how, what, why?" Ino said out loud, hoping that maybe Artemis would hear her and get his but over there. No such luck.

"Okay, maybe I'm just a few centimeters off or something, everything looks the same so if I just feel my way around."and that is what she did trying to find the gap where she came through. Soon however she had made her way around the entire room and still hadn't found the gap. She sat down and sighed out of frustration.

She decided to look at her reflection in the floor. She blinked, the reflection blinked back, she pouted her lips and her reflection did the same, Ino pulled a face and the reflection copied her.

"I'm being paranoid; it's just a normal reflection." Ino said and smiled at her reflection who smirked back.

With Shikamaru and Valkyrie 

"Wow, this room is pretty amazing" Valkyrie said in awe. They had entered the same room as Ino and Artemis (not that they knew that) but a completely different part of it.

"Look, there's the door!" she exclaimed and tried to run to it but Shikamaru grabbed her hand and said "Stop, it's a trap."

Valkyrie looked at him oddly "it's not a trap the door is right there not two meters from us, that doesn't leave a lot of room for a trap does it?"

But Shikamaru shook his head.

"Don't you think that the last obstacle was a little too easy? Remember there is someone who is trying to kill or at least seriously injure the genii at this festival. This person or people are not going to let an opportunity slip. The last obstacle was to lower our guard."

Valkyrie gulped, she had completely forgotten about that little fact, now when she looked around the room it seemed more sinister that it had been moments ago.

"Okay then, what do we do?" She asked hoping that he had a plan.

"Whoever they are they are trying to separate us, using the mirrors as a distraction, most likely there are movable panels that keep changing places and because the whole room is a giant mirror everything looks the same. They want to corner us on our own in a section off area of the room and attack us there. So if we keep together we should be safe." Shikamaru explained.

Valkyrie nodded her head and grabbed onto Shikamaru's shoulder, they both started moving forward, there senses on über alert. A shiver creeped up Valkyries back as she heard the very faint rumble of a panel changing it's place. Then Shikamaru suddenly froze and said "I'm very sorry Valkyrie but I'm afraid I have made a great error."

"Indeed you have, worthless, stupid, idiot" an eerily familiar voice resonated around the room.

"You should have split up then you might have had a chance" another voice said.

"That… that voice is…" Valkyrie gasped but then she screamed.

With Artemis

"How did she manage to get lost from walking from the door to here? It's less that a meter away!" Artemis said in disbelief. He had been walking straight ahead and then he turned around because it had become strangely quiet. Ino was complaining about how Artemis should of told her about his 'robot-thingy-majigs', that he had wasted valuable chakra and that she wasn't sure if she had enough to sense any more traps. Or something like that, Artemis had been drowning her out by playing Beethoven's 5th symphony in his head.

"Ino!" he called out, he didn't really care if she was lost or anything but he wanted to win and to do that he needed to finish with her. He walked a few steps forward but then stopped.

'I could have sworn that I heard something move behind me.' Artemis pondered but he moved forward anyway. Then he stopped again "Right if you're trying to creep up behind me, that's really childish and…" Artemis turned around but suddenly felt someone clamp their hand over his mouth!

"Do not make a sound or move a muscle if you do expect to feel a great pain in your stomach."


	20. Chapter 195

**Hey guys. I know this chapter is really REALLY short, but I think that if I don't upload a chapter today I'll go insane. So that's why I'm calling it chapter 19.5. Hope you enjoy the short paragraphs. **

* * *

**Chapter 19.5**

With Ino

Ino threw kunai knives, shuriken, exploding tags anything that would stop the monster before her. However no matter how many hit it, it just kept walking towards her, laughing, giggling and talking. Oh, the awful things that it was saying.

"STOP IT, PLEASE STOP IT!" Ino shouted covering her ears hoping that it would drown out the razor words cutting into her heart.

"But Ino why are you so scared? After all I'm only you, the true you and I'm only showing you what you're actually like, showing all of the pain and trouble you've caused to your family, friends and the disappointment you've been to your team." The horrible voice whispered in Ino's ear but at the same time the sound echoed around the room.

"Please, please just stop, please." Ino whimpered and curled into a ball and tried to ignore the Voice.

With Valkyrie and Shikamaru

Shikamaru stared at Valkyrie she had suddenly screamed and was curled into a ball muttering nonsense.

"No it wasn't like that. NO THEY DON'T… do they?. I didn't mean…, PLEASE STOP!" She shouted.

"Valkyrie! What's wrong are you being attacked?" he asked trying to spot where the attacker was hiding

"Yes! There, in front of me, no wait behind me, no above me… around me! Just make it shut up please!" She pleaded.

Shikamaru looked around the room there was no else there just the two of them and their reflections…Shikamaru's eyes widened.

"Valkyrie, close your eyes and stop listing to whatever your hearing. It's not true, the trap it's the reflections. They're trying to trick you, just try to zone them out!" He called over to her. Then he heard it at first it was a nagging voice at the back of his head but the it was echoing all around the room. Shikamaru did his best to ignore it, he was good at drowning out voices after all he had grown up with Ino and his mother. Still he could hear it pecking at the back of his mind.

'just concentrate on saving Valkyrie.' He thought.

'If I break the mirrors that would mean their would be no reflection, no reflection means no more tormenting voice.' Shikamaru realised he tried going over his plan to see if there was any holes in it but the voice, the voice it made it so hard to think. So Shikamaru raised his hand about to throw a kunai knife but suddenly someone grabbed his wrist.

'Not one of your best ideas there Shikamaru.'


	21. Chapter 21

Hey guys. I'm really sorry that updates aren't quick lately. I've just been really busy recently, and so i'll probably only update on story each week so sorry :(

hope you enjoy chapter 20

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Chapter 20

Shikamaru turned around sharply and saw that it was the skeleton detective grabbing his wrist with Butler behind him.

"I have to help Valkyrie! How can you just let her suffer? She's you're friend!" Shikamaru shouted at the skeleton and then his eyes widened.

"Ino…" his voice trailed off and suddenly he realised that the voice in his head had disappeared.

Skulduggery smiled at him (well Shikamaru presumed he was smiling, it was hard to tell as he had no lips).

"The voice ends once you figure out what it's whispering about. It seemed to be focusing on what you're most guilty about. Me and Butler figured what that was pretty quickly however seeing as rest of you should be too young to seriously guilty about anything, we decided to help you along a little bit." Skulduggery explained.

"Why did you stop me from breaking the mirror?" Shikamaru asked his head still shaken from the extra voice inside his head.

"Breaking the mirror doesn't help, it makes it worse. The mirrors reflect the worst part of you or the part you think is the worst. The more mirrors there are the stronger the voice."

"And if you crack the mirror then more mirrors are formed from the shards." Shikamaru finished finally realising.

Skulduggery nodded his head in agreement.

"The only person who can help Valkyrie is herself"

* * *

"Do not make a sound or move a muscle if you do expect to feel a great pain in your stomach." The masked person, with their hand on Artemis', mouth hissed and as Artemis didn't really want to be stabbed in the stomach today, he complied.

"Were going to walk over there to the stairs nice and slowly and if you try to run I'll kill you. Nod if you understand." They snapped however Artemis could feel their hands trembling with fear. The person didn't want to do this.

'Where's Butler when you need him?' Artemis thought but he nodded his head and they started to walk towards a staircase behind one of the mirrors.

'Well that's where the mystery attacker came from.' He figured. When the reached the foot of the stairs the masked attacker demanded that he walk up the stairs but keeping within 5 steps of the attacker.

"Do not run or I'll…"

"Kill me, correct. However you can't do that as the person who is ordering you around wants me alive, don't they? I'll still do what you order but just because I want to see who the 'spider of the web' is, and what it is they want. So where are you bringing me to? After all, the maids are required to answer any questions we have while we stay here." Artemis responded.

The kidnapper gasped.

"H-how did you know I was one of the maids in the house-hold?"

"You were one of the maids that served us dinner, I recognised your voice. Now I think we should move on.

* * *

"Stephanie, Stephanie." The voice echoed.

"Why don't you stay with us, you never see us. Stephanie please stay, or is Stephanie even your name any more? You abandoned us Stephanie, when all we did was love and care for you."

"Please stop, please." Valkyrie sobbed.

"Don't you love us, weren't we enough?"

"No, I do, but…"

"YOU HATE US THAT'S WHY YOU LEFT!" The voice bellowed.

"NO! That's not true!"

"Why did you leave us then." The voice sneered.

"I'm sorry I'm really sorry. Mom, Dad I didn't mean…"

Valkyries eyes flew wide open.

"The voice it stopped!" She exclaimed.

Then she noticed Shikamaru. He was lying down by the wall looking at her with a quizzical look on his face, not unlike Skulduggery.

"You feel guilty about leaving your mom and dad?" he asked.

Valkyrie stared in shock at Shikamaru.

"You were talking in your… sleep. Would you call that sleep? And as it turns out, those voices target what you feel the most guilty about."

"Oh, well I guess deep inside. I don't really think about it as usually I'm busy hitting bad guys or learning magic or running from bad guys. There is an awful lot of running. I still love my parents but I also don't want to be just another average person." Valkyrie explained. "What about you. Do you feel guilty about becoming a ninja?" she asked.

Shikamaru yawed and replied lazily "My parents know I'm a ninja, it runs in the family. Infact, my dad is the head of our clan which is one of the strongest ninja families in the hidden leaf."

"Oh."

"If you're wondering what my voices said they were shunning for when me and Ino were kids."

"What happened?"

Shikamaru sighed "When Ino was six she had a best friend named Sakura. They were really close but then they both fell hard for this guy named Sasuke, all the girls did. And suddenly Sakura ends their friendship, choosing Sasuke over Ino. This really hurt Ino more than she let on, she'd act so strong but I'd she her crying when she thought no one was around. I've known Ino literary from the day after I was born."

Valkyrie raised an eyebrow.

"Our dads and moms are best friends and they were in the same room of the hospital when we were being born. So when I was born one day ahead of Ino, my parents decided to wait until Ino was born as well."

"Oh, well continue on with the story."

"But though I knew so well no matter what I did I couldn't cheer her up and neither could Choji. I guess I've always been guilty because I didn't do enough to stop her from suffering."

"You know Shikamaru, for a guy who is supposed the smartest person in the whole of the fire country. You are really are an idiot."


	22. Chapter 22

Hey guys sorry it's been so long. I wanted to make this chapter longer but I felt that if I didn't upload this today then it never would. So sorry about that and I hope you enjoy this chapter even if it is short.

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**Chapter 21**

"You know Shikamaru, for a guy who is supposed to be the smartest person in the whole of the fire country. You are really are an idiot." Ino said as she walked out from a near by corner.

"When you guys came around, you really did cheer me up and I was able to smile and laugh something I couldn't do without your help, which is a million times more than what everybody else did, so stop feeling guilty about that!" Ino announced and punched Shikamaru on the arm.

"Troublesome" muttered Shikamaru although he was smiling.

* * *

The maid that had kidnapped Artemis brought him into a small, bare, cold room. The only thing in this room was a desk and on it an envelope. Artemis raised his eyebrows at the maid who just nodded, so Artemis picked up the envelope. He checked the outside of it, no suspicious objects just a piece of paper in it, more than likely a letter.

'Go figure.' Artemis said to himself and he opened the envelope, and glanced at the letter. It was written in elegant handwriting.

* * *

_Dear Artemis,_

_ Seeing as you are reading this, then that means that the idiot who brought you here managed to her job properly. You probably have already figured out that she is a maid in the slum called hummingbird manor, despite giving her precise instructions telling her not to say a word to you. However if you do try to question her about my identity she will not be able to tell you anything._

_ I leave this letter for a few reasons one of these is to explain how to help your miserable genii friends and their little sidekicks. Seeing what they are most guilty about was quite fascinating and will certainty help me later. I guess even genii have their uses._

_When you find them bring them back to the stair case you used to get to this room and keep going up until you reach the west wing in the manor._

_ Another reason for this letter is that I feel Artemis you will figure out my identity first; in fact I have already given a clue to it in this letter. When you do I look forward to seeing what your next step will be after all we're very similar when it comes to personality. When you're finished tell the maid she may go._

* * *

Artemis once he had finished reading the letter, he nodded at the maid who rushed out of the room.

"I'd better show the idiots the way out of the maze of mirrors, but more importantly who is the author of the letter." Artemis muttered to himself, he re-read the letter not for any reason (He'd already memorised it). Something was bugging him about it.

He sighed and walked out the door, he had a feeling that finding the rest of the groups was going to take a while let alone getting them back to the staircase.

* * *

Skulduggery was watching Butler. To the normal eye it would seem that Butler was perfectly normal for a tank, however Skulduggery was excellent at reading people (according to him anyway.) He could tell that Butler was very nervous and worried for some reason.

'Three guesses why. Although it is strange that we haven't run into Artemis yet, seeing as we have already searched the whole room and there has been no sign of him. Maybe he…. "AAH!" Skulduggery shouted (he didn't scream, he assured himself.) Artemis had just appeared beside him out of no where.

"Hm, maybe finding the other groups will be quicker than expected." Artemis drawled.

"Where… how… What?" Skulduggery said then he spotted the staircase which had a door made out of a mirror.

* * *

"Are you okay?" Butler grunted.

Artemis nodded and replied "The past half and hour has been interesting to say the least. I will fill you in and everyone else once we get out of this maze. The stairs lead to the west wing of the manor. Get everyone together and tell them the competition has been called off. I have received some information that has made it clear that this has become more than a bonding event."


	23. Chapter 23

Ah, I'm becoming one of those authors that never update. I'm so sorry (T.T). You see, I was at a music camp for a week and they don't have any internet there. Also I'm going to Germany for a week and after that I'm going to the Gaeltacht. So if i don't update for ages it's not that I've given up on the story. anyway here is chapter 22 enjoy!

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Chapter 22

"As you know we have suspected that someone is targeting us. That person has contacted me." Artemis told the group showing the letter. "This person has seen what we are most guilty about and can use this against us. I am certain that we already know this person however they are very clever and won't be caught out easily. Even worse they are likely watching our every move."

"So, what do we do?" Valkyrie asked.

"The first step normally would be to figure out who this person is but seeing as that's likely to take some time… try to figure out what their plan is?" Shikamaru replied.

"How are we supposed to do that when we don't even know who the hell this person is?" Ino pointed out.

"What would someone gain if we all died?" Skulduggery asked.

"And who?" replied Valkyrie.

'Uh, we're just going around in circles. Can we just get out of here?" Ino groaned. They were in the small room Artemis had been brought to and he had to admit that it was getting stuffy.

"Fine, perhaps some a good night's sleep will help us figure out the identity of the mystery person." Artemis agreed.

So the weary group trudged up the stairs to the manor. They lead to another corridor with another hundred rooms.

"Why is this place so big you could have a thousand bloody people in here and still have room for more! And every corridor looks the same, it's almost like they want us to get lost!" Ino complained.

"Shh" Shikamaru hushed "Can you here that coming from the room over there." He pointed to a room at the very end of the corridor.

'I can barely see that room let alone hear anything in it how can he… oh right, ninja.' Valkyrie remembered.

The group cautiously made their way to the door.

"It could be a trap." Butler grunted making everyone bar Artemis jump.

"No it isn't. The person clearly demonstrated that they could easily trap us and kill us without much effort. They're playing with us and I doubt they would want their game to end so quickly." Artemis said.

"That has made me even more uneasy then I was already. Thanks Artemis." Valkyrie said sarcastically.

"You're very welcome."

Valkyrie gave Artemis the evil eye.

"You two stop messing, if you've forgotten potentially axe wielding serial killer on the other side of the door we are about to open." Skulduggery interrupted.

"Axe wielding serial killers are my favourite kind of serial killers." Valkyrie replied.

Then Butler reached for the door handle, counted to three and swung the door wide open to reveal…

A terrified Melody gagged and tied up with a rope that looked a smidgen on the tight side.

"Well at least they aren't a serial killer axe wielding or not." Shikamaru said as though paint drying would be more exciting than the chance someone would try to chop your head off.

"Max Mieilding Merial Miler?" Melody mumbled looking confused but extremely relived at the same time.

"Don't ask." Ino shook her head and began untying her.

Finally they un-gagged her.

"T-t-t-thank you s-s-so much. I d-d-d-didn't think any w-would ever find m-me, m-m-mainly b-b-because my parents w-w-wouldn't try." Melody stuttered and then burst into tears.

"It's okay now. Can you tells us what happened?" Ino said sweetly hugging Melody.

"W-w-w-well, I was going to t-t-tell my f-f-father what g-going on and I was walking p-p-past one of the empty r-r-rooms when s-s-someone grabbed me f-f-from behind and g-g-gagged me! Then they t-t-tied me up and d-d-dragged me into this room. The s-s-strange thing is before t-t-they closed the d-d-door they ap-p-polgised and their voice sounded s-so familiar." Melody trembled.

"Would the voice perhaps belong to one of the maids in the manor? Specifically one that helped serve dinner last night?" Artemis asked.

Melody froze. "Y-y-yes, they s-sounded j-just like J-j-jenny. But even though the maids don't like me very much they'd n-never do anything like t-this!" Melody exclaimed.

"If it helps, they aren't doing it of their own free will. Can you tell us where Jenny is supposed to be, then we can question her about who is doing all of this?" Skulduggery said.

"She should be with the other maids in the kitchen."

"Good, Now Valkyrie if you wouldn't mind going with Melody to her father's office. I think, he should be informed with what is going on in his manor."

"I'll go with them" Ino announced. The two of them helped Melody to her feet and they set off.

"Are you sure that three girls on their own are going to be okay? We, already have enough to deal with, without two of our group going missing." Artemis said coldly.

"Oh trust me, Ino is more than capable of holding her own." Shikamaru smirked. "And I'm sure that Valkyrie is no stranger to trouble." He looked over to Skulduggery who just nodded.

"We should make a plan about how to capture the Maid. I'd say it's the same maid that kidnapped Melody as the maid who brought you to that little room. The person behind all of this wants us to find her; it's all apart of their little game."

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After five minutes of trying to get their bearings, they girls finally made it to the office.

Valkyrie knocked and a cold voice told them to come in. Mrs. Trawl was in the room alone, by the desk.

"What are you doing in here?" Mrs. Trawl glared at them.

"We could ask you the same question. We are looking for your husband; we need to tell him something important." Ino replied coldly.

"He isn't here at the moment, however you may tell me and I will past the message to him later."

"Sorry, but we'd prefer if we said in person." Valkyrie said politely.

"Melody, I demand you to tell me what is going on." Mrs. Trawl said frostily.

Melody tensed up and replied "S-s-s-someone is t-t-t-trying to hurt the g-g-g-g-guests, they k-k-kidnapped me and have t-t-tried to harm Mr. F-f-f-owl."

Mrs. Trawl smirked, happy with her control over her step-daughter. "Do, you have any suspects?"

"Y-y-yes. O-o-one of the maids, named Jenny S-s-signer. The r-r-rest of the group are questioning her now." Melody stuttered.

If you didn't have a keen eye you wouldn't have noticed Mrs, Trawls change in body language. Lucky for the three girls Ino had very keen eyes and spotted straight away that Mrs. Trawl had tighten her fists and her smirk had dropped less then half a millimetre.

"I see, I will pass on the information to your father." And she swept out of the room.

"Is it just me or do you think she is hiding something?" Ino asked and the two other girls nodded their heads in agreement.

"We'd better hurry back to the rest of the group."

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I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Please leave a review if you did, i really like hearing whhat you guys think of the story.


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